When you are aware of diffraction you will begin to notice them in your every day life. If you look down at calm water surface by the river , you will notice how some wave fronts bend ( become circular) as they pass a gap (opening) or object ( a branch sticking out of the surface) .
Imagine if tsunami were to hit S'pore from the south , you would expect the Sembawang beach in the north to escape the brunt of it. Knowing what diffraction means , you can expect the waves to bend inwards as it passes through and hit the north as well , assuming Malaysia in not nearby. The ability to diffract depends on the size of the island. If the island size is of the order of the waves than you would expect it to bend inwards and hit the north.
The tsunami in 2004 in Acheh , the waves diffracted to a lesser extent because Sumatra is large and therefore people in the Johor coast and S'pore escaped the tsunami.We are said to be shadowed by the big island Sumatra.
Light waves produces lots of shadow around our everyday objects, buildings , trees, furniture etc.
Can you make a relationship between the size of the object and the wavelength of the light waves. Sound waves seems to be able to bend around corners of buildings and allow us to hear without seeing the person. Can you make another comparison between the object and the wavelength of sound.
