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Basic Wave Phenomena
Basic Wave Phenomena
Professor K. W. Chow
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Introduction
Waves occur in different forms in nature. The notion of a wave is
familiar to everyone in one form or another.
Common examples of waves include ocean surface waves, sound
waves, electromagnetic waves or the “wave” at a football game.
(Extracted from
http://electron9.phys.utk.edu/phys136d/modules/m10/geometrical.htm)
What is a wave?
A classic text on waves by G. B. Whitham
(California Institute of Technology, USA) (1973)
defines a wave as follows:
“A wave is any recognizable signal which is
transferred from one part of a medium to
another with a recognizable velocity of
propagation.”
The critical part of the definition is that a
disturbance or signal travels through a medium.
The medium through which the wave propagates
may experience some local oscillations (e.g.
water wave) as the wave passes, but the particles
in the medium do NOT travel with the wave.
Animation courtesy of
Dr. Dan Russell,
Kettering University
Why are waves important?
They transmit INFORMATION (OR
SIGNALS) AND ENERGY in
Nature and engineering systems.
Importance of waves
Waves play important roles in our daily lives.
Visible light beams are electromagnetic waves.
We rely on the propagation of sound waves through the air to hear
what others say.
The microwave oven in your kitchen employs microwave radiation to
heat food.
The transmission of signals using electromagnetic waves has
brought us the modern broadcast and telecommunication systems.
Microwave
telecommunications
Optical fiber provides tower, silhouette-
affordable bandwidth for Wrights Hill,
long distance Wellington New
communication Zealand
Waves can be devastating
Every coin has two sides, so do waves. Waves are very versatile.
However, they can be sometimes catastrophic, unfortunately.
South Asia in 2004 and Japan in 2011. The tsunami is a kind of
water waves.
Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. The earthquake is a kind of elastic
waves.
Tsunami in South Asia 2004 (AP/Wide World Photo) 2008 Sichuan Earthquake
(AP Photo/Nicky Loh, POOL)
Motivation
For its practical importance and
profound scientific values, the
theory of waves has been a
source of intriguing problems for
mathematicians, scientists and
engineers.
A sound understanding of waves
in different physical systems arms
the scientists and engineers to
fight against the natural disasters
and to design systems which
manipulate these versatile waves
for the betterment of human lives.
(Extracted from
http://www.learningmatt
ers.co.uk/images/azs/sc
Wavelength ience/light.gif)
Frequency / Period:
– Frequency is a measure of how often the particles of
the medium vibrate when a wave passes through the
medium.
– The commonly used unit in frequency is Hertz
(abbreviated Hz). 1 Hz is equivalent to 1 cycle /
second.
– For example, if a coil of slinky makes 5 cycles in one
second, then the frequency is 5 Hz.
– The period is the time taken for a particle to complete
a cycle of vibration. In other words, the period is the
reciprocal of the frequency.
Frequency
Measured in Hertz (Hz)
= number of cycles per unit time (1
second)
If this is a graph of displacement versus time (i.e. the horizontal axis is time),
then the bottom wave is at a higher frequency than those above it.
Properties of a wave (cont’d)
Wave velocity/speed
– The wave velocity refers to the speed at which
the wave propagates.
– The wave velocity depends on the medium
through which the wave propagates.
– The properties of the medium, say density,
tension in the string, thickness etc, will affect
the wave velocity.
– For instance, sound waves travel faster in solid
than in the air, as sound waves are related to
the elastic restoring force of the medium.
Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
Another classification is based on the direction of particle oscillation
and the direction of wave propagation.
If the direction of particle oscillation is perpendicular to the direction
of propagation, the wave is called a transverse wave.
Examples of transverse waves include the wave in a guitar string /
violin, light and other electromagnetic waves.
Animation courtesy of
Dr. Dan Russell,
Kettering University
Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
If the direction of particle oscillation is parallel to
the direction of propagation, the wave is called a
longitudinal wave. The sound wave is an example
of longitudinal wave.
Animation courtesy of
Dr. Dan Russell,
Kettering University
Dynamics of Wave Motion
In one cycle of the oscillation, the wave
pattern will move ahead by a distance equal to
one wavelength.
In one unit of time (one second), the wave
pattern oscillates a number of cycles (which
is, by definition, the frequency of the wave).
Hence the pattern move forward a distance of
(Frequency) times the (Wavelength)
Speed (or velocity) of a wave
Velocity =
(Frequency) X (Wavelength)
Dynamics of Wave
Phenomena:
Simple algebra will show that
Velocity =
(Angular frequency)/ (Wave
number)
Standing Waves
When two identical waves travel in opposite
directions and collide, a standing wave pattern
results.
The particles still somehow oscillate. The wave
profile now only moves up and down and does
NOT propagate (i.e. does not move left nor
right).
Applications: Musical instruments.
Basic Wave Phenomena
Some basic phenomena common for all waves.
Reflection - If you throw a ball at a wall, it will
bounce back i.e. reflect.
Waves also undergo reflection and obey the law of
reflection i.e. the angle of incidence
is equal to the angle of reflection.
Properties of a wave (wavelength,
frequency, period and speed) are
not changed by reflection. The only
change is the direction in which
the wave is traveling. (Extracted from
http://www.school-for-
champions.com/science/
waves_obstacle.htm)
Reflection
When a wave pulse on a string strikes a hard / fixed
boundary, the wave will reflect with inversion. However,
if the boundary is free, there will be no inversion.
Fixed End Free End
(Extracted from
http://daphne.palo
mar.edu/lyon/Anim
ations/WaveMotion.
swf)
Diffraction
Diffraction of wave normally refers to the
apparent bending of waves around small
obstacles and the spreading of waves past small
openings.
When the opening is small,
the wave spreads out more.
When the wavelength of a
wave is large (in other words,
the opening is relatively small),
the diffraction
(Extracted from
is also stronger. http://www.bbc.co.u
k/scotland/educatio
n/bitesize/higher/ph
ysics/radiation/wav
es1_rev.shtml)
Diffraction
Online experiment here.
Diffraction explains why you can hear someone who
is around the corner of a building, long before you
see them, as sound wave diffracts or spreads out
around the corner. Hence, the wall cannot “block”
the sound. Light does not
diffract much here because
it has a very small wavelength.
The wall will simply “block”
the light.
(Extracted from
Animation here http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/fe
schools/waves/diffract.htm)
Interference
Interference is perhaps a more
complicated wave phenomenon.
Let us first see what happens when two
pulses of the same sign (positive or
negative) meet. The two
waves will “add up” their
displacement and become
a bigger wave when they
meet.
Animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Kettering University
Interference
(Extracted from
http://astro-
canada.ca/_en/a
2313.html)
Interference
The interference pattern of two sources
are as follows:
Animation here
(Extracted from
http://www.olympusn
dt.com/data/Image/t
heroy/InterferenceP
attern.jpg)
Interference
(Extracted from
http://www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~fhg/waves/)