A pinhole camera consists of a sealed container with one panel removed. This panel is replaced with either a piece of aluminum foil or a piece of black paper. The replacement material has a single pinhole in it. When a piece of photographic paper is placed inside and the pinhole uncovered for a specific amount of time, a picture forms on the photographic paper.
(11) Explain why the picture that forms is the full size of the paper and not the size of the pinhole.
The size of the picture is a result of the diffraction of light. The pinhole is small enough so that the light travels in all directions when the light passes through the hole. This type of camera works because the size of the pinhole is on the order of wavelengths of light.
