Waves and Wave Properties mlikhule

WAVES
A wave is a periodical disturbance that
propagates in a particular medium.ie dropping
a pebble in a pond creates water waves
A wave is a motion of disturbance
Other examples of waves include; sound
waves, waves on a string, and electromagnetic
waves such as visible light, radio waves,
television signals, and x-rays.
All waves carry energy
TYPES OF WAVES
 Classified into two different categories:
A) Medium requirement-
 Mechanical waves

 Electromagnetic waves i.e.

B) Nature of the vibration of the field or particle

 Transverse waves

 Longitudinal waves
MECHANICAL WAVES
 A mechanical wave is an oscillation/vibration of matter, and
therefore transfers energy through a medium
 For example water waves, sound waves, waves in stretched spring
and elastic spring
 They require 3 things;
i. some source of disturbance
ii. A medium that can be disturbed
iii. Some physical connection or mechanism through which adjacent
portions of the medium can influence each other
 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
 Electromagnetic waves are waves that are
created as a result of vibrations between an
electric field and a magnetic field.
 Requires no medium for propagation

 Examples include; All member of the

electromagnetic spectrum e.g. microwaves,
infrared radiation, UV-light, visible light.
 Can travel in a vacuum
TRANSVERSE WAVES

Vibrations/displacements are
perpendicular to the direction of
propagation of the waves
Examples Include;
A transverse wave that is set up in a
spring by moving one end of the spring
perpendicular to its length.
TRANSVERSE WAVES CONT…
 EM waves; consist of vibrating electric & magnetic
fields both of which are perpendicular to the
direction of wave travel

 Water waves; particles vibrate up and down to the

direction of wave travel which is horizontal.
 Each particle vibrates with same frequency and
amplitude
LONGITUDINAL WAVE
A traveling wave or pulse that causes the
elements of the medium to move parallel to
the direction of propagation is called a
longitudinal wave

Displacements of particles cause regions of

high density(pressure) called compression
and low density(pressure) called rarefactions
to be formed

Rarefactions and compressions move along

(parallel) with the speed of the wave

LONGITUDINAL WAVES CONT…
 The left end of the spring is pushed briefly to the right
and then pulled briefly to the left.
 This movement creates a sudden compression of a
region of the coils.
 The compressed region travels along the spring.
(parallel to the wave propagation)
 sound waves
 disturbance in a sound wave is a series of high-
pressure and low-pressure regions that travel through
air
WAVES CHARACTERISTICS

Displacement -is the distance a particle moves from its central

equilibrium position.

Amplitude (A) – Maximum displacement of particle of the

medium from its equilibrium point. The bigger the amplitude,
the more energy the wave carries.

Wavelength – separation of two adjacent crests (max positive

displacement) or trough (max negative displacement)
WAVE CHARACTERISTICS CONT…
 Period (T) – Time(s) taken for any particle to undergo
complete oscillation.
 Time taken for the wave to travel one wavelength.

 Reciprocal of frequency: T = 1 / f.

 Frequency (f ) – The number of cycles a particle

undergoes per second
 SI unit is Hertz (Hz).

 Wave speed/Velocity (v) – How fast the wave is

moving (the disturbance itself, not the individual
particles).
 Speed depends on the medium

 Also the distance travelled by the wave in one second.

WAVE VELOCITY
 When a source makes a complete vibration per
second, the wave advances a by one . There
number of cycles covered in a second is f, so
distance travelled in this time is
 v= f
 v= /T
Phase difference - the fraction of a
wavelength by which particles’ motions
are different.
The phase of a particle is the fraction of
the cycle a particle has passed through
relative to a given starting point.
Two waves are in phase when their
crests and troughs coincide.
These two waves have a phase difference of 90°. E1 lead E2 by
90° and E2 lags E1by 90 °. They are out of phase.
EXAMPLE
 All radio waves travel through air at a speed of 3 x 108m/
s. what is the wavelength of a typical wave from a
station that emits waves of frequency 1450kHz?
 A radar antenna emits electromagnetic
206.897m radiation of
velocity 3 x 108m/s with a wavelength of 0.03m for 0.5
seconds.
 What is the frequency of the radiation?(3 marks)
 How many complete waves are emitted in this time? (3
marks)

1 x 1010 Hz
 After 0.5 seconds, how far is the front of the wave from
the antenna? (4 marks)

0.5 x 1010 or 5 x 109 waves

1.5 x 108m
 PROPERTIES OF WAVES
1. Reflection: When waves bounce off a
surface.


If the surface is flat, the angle at which

the wave hits the surface will be the
same as the angle at which it leaves the
surface
(angle in = angle out).


This is the law of reflection.

LAW OF REFLECTION

The normal is a line

perpendicular to the
surface
Itis at the point where
the incident wave
strikes the surface
The incident wave
makes an angle of θ1
with the normal
The reflected wave
makes an angle of θ1’
with the normal
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LAW OF REFLECTION (CONT’D…)
 The angle of reflection is equal to the angle
of incidence
θ = θ ’
1 1

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CONT…
 When waves are reflected, the process of reflection
has certain properties. If a wave hits an obstacle at
a right angle to the surface then the wave is
reflected directly backwards.
PHASE SHIFT OF REFLECTED WAVE
When a wave is reflected from a more dense medium, it undergoes a
phase shift. That means that the peaks and troughs are swapped
around

The fixed end is like reflection off a more dense medium.

If the end of the string was not fixed, i.e. it could move up
and down then the wave would still be reflected but it
would not undergo a phase shift
REFRACTION OF WAVES
 When a wave traveling through a medium
encounters a boundary leading into another
medium, part of the wave is reflected and
part of it enters the second medium
 The part that enters the second medium is
bent at the boundary
 This bending of the wave is called
refraction

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 REFRACTION OF WAVES, (CONT’D…)

 The incident wave, the Refraction of light

reflected wave, the
refracted wave, and the
normal all lie on the
same plane
 The angle of refraction,
θ2, depends on the
properties of the
medium

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 REFRACTION DETAILS, 1

 A wave may refract into a

material where its speed is
lower
 The angle of refraction is
less than the angle of
incidence
 The wave bends
toward the normal

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 REFRACTION DETAILS, 2

 A wave may refract into a

material where its speed is
higher
 The angle of refraction is
greater than the angle of
incidence
 The wave bends
away from the
normal

8/18/2021 3:26 AM 26
CONT..
 A demonstration of refraction
CONT..
 Sinusoidal travelling plane wave entering a region
of lower wave velocity at an angle, illustrating the
decrease in wavelength and change of direction
(refraction)
DIFFRACTION:
 The bending of waves around an object.
 The amount of bending depends on the size of the
obstacle and the size of the waves.
 Large obstacle, small wavelength = low diffraction
(bending)
 Small obstacle, large wavelength = large diffraction
(bending)
 PROPERTIES OF WAVES : INTERFERENCE
 if two waves meet interesting things can happen.
 Waves are basically collective motion of particles.

 So when two waves meet they both try to impose

their collective motion on the particles. This can
have quite different results
INTERFERENCE
 If two identical (same wavelength, amplitude and
frequency) waves are both trying to form a peak
then they are able to achieve the sum of their
efforts.
 The resulting motion will be a peak which has a
height which is the sum of the heights of the two
waves.
 If two waves are both trying to form a trough in
the same place then a deeper trough is formed,
the depth of which is the sum of the depths of the
two waves. Now in this case the two waves have
been trying to do the same thing and so add
together constructively.
 This is called constructive interference.
CONT….
DESTRUCTIVE INTERFERENCE
 If one wave is trying to form a peak and the other is
trying to form a trough then they are competing to
do different things.
 In this case they can cancel out.

 The height of the peak less the depth of the trough

will be the resulting effect.
 If the depth of the trough is the same as the height
of the peak nothing will happen. If the height of the
peak is bigger than the depth of the trough a
smaller peak will appear and if the trough is deeper
then a less deep trough will appear.
 This is destructive interference.
CONT…
 Destructive interference
INTERFERENCE….

Two waves in phase Two waves 180° out

of phase
SUPERPOSITION PRINCIPLE
 In physics and systems theory, the superposition
principle, also known as superposition property,
states that, for all linear systems, the net response
at a given place and time caused by two or more
stimuli is the sum of the responses which would
have been caused by each stimulus individually.
 So that if input A produces response X and input B
produces response Y then input (A + B) produces
response (X + Y).
INTERFERENCE AND SUPERPOSITION
 As above interference obeys the principle of
superposition in forming constructive and
destructive interference
 Mathematically, for a linear system, F, defined by
F(x) = y, where x is some sort of stimulus (input)
and y is some sort of response (output), the
superposition (i.e., sum) of stimuli yields a
superposition of the respective responses:
DISPERSION
 A wave undergoes dispersion when either the
phase velocity or the group velocity depends on the
wave frequency.
 Dispersion is most easily seen by letting white light
pass through a prism, the result of which is to
produce the spectrum of colours of the rainbow
CONT…
 white light consists of several colours and that
these colours cannot be decomposed any further.
CONT..

Light beam exhibiting reflection,

refraction, transmission and
dispersion when encountering a prism
POLARIZATION

 READING ASSIGNMENT
WAVES ON A STRING

1. SPEED OF A WAVE
EXAMPLE

2.ENERGY IN WAVE MOTION
 The total energy in a wave on a string is given as;

 Then the power can be found by;

The end!