Waves and

Damien Martin April 12, 2007

One of the hardest things for students to get a handle on is how to nd the phase constant , and how this changes as the wave moves left or right. Let us start by recalling the equations for waves travelling to the left and the right: yL (x, t) = A sin yR (x, t) = A sin 2t 2x + + L T 2t 2x + R T (wave goes left) (wave goes right) (1) (2)

Notice that given a snapshot of a wave (i.e. a y(x, t) vs x graph at constant t) will determine A and uniquely. A graph of a particular position oscillating will give us A and T . None of the variables A, T or depend on if the wave is going to the left or the right. However the value of will depend on if the particle goes to the left or the right. This document aims to do two things: 1. Show you how to go from a graph of a particular particle and direction as it moves in time (i.e. y(x, t) for constant x) and obtain . 2. Show you how to go from a snapshot and a direction to obtain .

Obtaining from a snapshot

Let us take a snapshot of a wave at t = 0, as shown below. Let us assume that the wave is moving to the right:

There are (at least) two ways of doing this: thinking about moving in time, or moving in space. Personally the former is easier for me, but use whichever you feel more comfortable with. Before using either method, we should make sure that we get the right result when t = 0 and x = 0. y(x = 0, t = 0) = A sin(0 0 + ) = (2.0) sin = 1.0 (Substitution) (From graph)

Therefore we know that sin = 1/2. Using this, and our knowledge of the sin function or calculators, we can determine that , + 2, 2, + 4, . . . 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 or = , + 2, 2, + 4, . . . 6 6 6 6 = The values on any given line are equivalent (as they only dier by 2), but the two lines are inequivalent. To get a rough idea why, recall the graph of sin(x):

Note: This is not a wave, simply a sin graph drawn for easy reference!

1.1

Moving in time

In this approach, we consider what happens to a particular particle as time changes. I will focus on what happens to the particle at x = 0 as we allow the time to increase by highlighting it. I am moving the graphs by one-eighth of a period each time (remember, I dont actually know what the period is!) but that is a detail for this you would probably do this step in your head.

We see that as time increases the particle goes down. To make this really clear, I have made a graph of how far the particle at x = 0 is displaced as a function of time. The equation for this graph on the right is y(x, t) = (2.0) sin 2t 0+ T (3)

By looking at this graph we can tell that the phase constant is = 5/6, not /6.

1.2

Moving in space

The other way of approaching this problem is to remind ourselves that we already have all the information we need on the original graph. When t = 0 we know that the system looks like:

and the equation for this is y(x, t = 0) = (2.0) sin 2(0) 2x + T = (2.0) sin 2x +

So this way, it is simply a case of matching the right value of so that we recreate this graph. 3

We know that we are starting with the argument inside the sine function as either or 5 (or an angle equivalent to one of these). When we increase 6 6 x, the value of y (at t = 0) goes up. However, the argument of the sine function (the thing inside the brackets) goes down because there is a minus sign in front of the x. Therefore, in this example is where sin() = 1/2 but as we look to smaller values on the sine graph, the sine increases. Referring back to our picture of the sine graph, we see that = 5/6 (or equivalent). Exercise: Repeat your favourite of the two analysis, this time assuming the wave is travelling left.

Getting from a displacement vs time graph at constant x

This is actually much more straight-forward. Let us say that we were looking at the position x = 5 m. Then the equation for the displacement vs. time would be assuming the wave is going to the right: y(x = 5 m, t) = A sin 2t 2x + T (4)

As far as this graph is concerned, the last two terms are constant! Let us lump them together into a new constant called C: y(x = 5 m, t) = A sin 2t +C , T C = 2x (5)

Now we can read C straight o the graph, in exactly the same way we did when looking at oscillators. By knowing C, x and we can calculate . One nice thing is if x = 0 we dont need to know . An example may help: Example: A wave travels with velocity 2 m/s to the right. Below is a graph of the displacement from equilibrium of the particle located 5 m to the right of the origin. What is the phase constant ?

Solution: By comparing this graph to the regular sin graph we see that it is starting at about /4. (A calculation that takes actual numbers will conrm this; try it!). Therefore we know C = /4. Looking at the above: C= 2(5 m) = 4 (10 m) = + 4

Okay, now we need . From the graph we see that T = 1s, and we are told v = 2 m/s. Therefore the wavelength is 2 metres. Putting all this together: = (10 m) 21 + = + 5 = 4 (2 m) 4 4

Exercise: Try to repeat the same question with a left moving wave. What changes? What stays the same?

Warning:

These are just a couple of examples. They do not exhaust the possibilities of questions you could be expected to do. Instead, these notes are supposed to guide you in ways that you can approach these problems. More complicated examples include snapshots when t = 0, or trying to gure out which way a wave is going from a pair of graphs. The best pieces of advice for preparing for the quiz are: Know the sine function really well. Get a good handle on how to shift functions generally (see the appendix)

Why functions move for f (x + a)

To answer this question, we should recall what a function is. To do this, we are going to introduce a very simple function. This will have the dual advantage of being simpler than the sine function (which repeats a lot, which can be confusing), as well as reminding us exactly what we mean by a function. First recall that a function is simply a rule that we feed a number (called the argument) and gives back another number. To make this more concrete, let us dene our simple function f in the following way: If we feed f 0, then it gives us back 1. If we feed f any other number, it gives us back 0.1 In our denition of a function, there is no need to mention x at all. 5

Using this denition, we can graph the function f (x), by dening the x to be the value fed to the function and plotting the result. The graph is fairly easy to make.

We can also try dening f by tabulating values: Argument (thing to feed to f ) The result 2 0.1 1 0.1 0 1 1 0.1 2 0.1 3 0.1 The problem with this method is that I cannot possibly tabulate an innite number of values. This does not tell me what f of 0.5 is, for example. But it does convey the idea that a function(of one variable) really is just a rule that takes a number and spits out another number. Notice that there is no mention of an x here either. The way we dene functions in mathematics and physics is closer to the following: f (x) = 1 x=0 . 0.1 x = 0

The label x here is just a stand-in for what we feed f this is called the argument of the function f . Now let us ask what f (x + 2) is, as a simple example. While we dened our function as f (x), we should know that the function does not care what x is. It simply cares what we feed it; in this case x + 2. Here x + 2 is the argument, we feed this to the function and we then use the rule to get f (x + 2). To get a feeling for the distinction, let us calculate a few values of f (x+2):

Value on axis x 2 1 0 1 2 3

Argument (thing to feed to f ) The result x + 2 f (x + 2) 4 0.1 3 0.1 2 0.1 1 0.1 0 1 1 0.1

We can then graph this function:

Notice that unlike the move the axis or shift the function rules, this really gets to the denition of a function. Therefore it will work for f (x2 3x + 2) or f (ex ) or any other combination we can think of. Exercise: What does the graph of f (x + 2) look like? Exercise: What does the graph of f (x/3 2) look like?