Waves, Sound & Light

Start date: 5/9

End date: 5/27
Chapters: 11,12, 13, 14

I Properties of Waves

A. Wave: the motion of a disturbance.

1. Mechanical wave: waves that require a
material medium.
a. medium- material that wave
travels through

2. Electromagnetic waves can travel
through a vacuum.


3. Sine waves- vibrate with simple harmonic
motion
B. Types of Waves




Crest
Trough
Amplitude
Wavelength
1. . Transverse wave: the particles of the
disturbed medium move perpendicularly to the
wave motion.




2. A longitudinal wave occurs when the particles
of the medium vibrate back and forth in the
direction of propagation of the wave.

Example: sound waves

T & L Waves
C. Period, Frequency & Wave Speed

1.



v: speed (m/s)
f: frequency (Hz)
: wavelength (m)

a. Waves transfer energy from one place to
another.
f v
Ex: A piano string is tuned to middle C and
vibrates with a frequency of 262 Hertz. The
speed of sound in air is 343 m/s. Find the
wavelength of the sound waves produced by
the string.

f = 262 Hz
v = 343 m/s
= ?


l:
v
f
D Wave Interactions

1. Wave Interference
A. Interference patterns can be
formed as two or more waves
overlap to share the same space in
time.

1. Constructive interference
(reinforcement) occurs when the crest of one
wave overlaps with the crest of another and
their amplitudes add.

+
=
2. Destructive interference (cancellation)
occurs when the crest of one wave overlaps
the trough of another and their individual
effects are reduced.



+
=


2. reflection
a. At a free boundary- waves are reflected

b. at a fixed boundary- waves are reflected &
inverted
3. Standing waves
1. regular repeating motion of a string
produces waves of a certain frequency,
wavelength, & amplitude

SOUND
I Sound Waves

A produced by a vibrating source- the waves
spread out in all directions

B. Characteristics of Sound Waves

1. The pitch (frequency) of a sound is how
high or low the note is



2. The speed of sound depends on the medium
Sound will travel the fastest in solids
then liquids
the slowest in gases

3. sound waves propagate in three dimensions
C. The Doppler Effect
1. The change in the frequency of a wave due to
the motion of the source or receiver is called
the Doppler effect.


2. The loudness of a sound depends on the
energy it contains
The measure of the loudness is called the intensity
The units are decibels (dB)
II. Sound Intensity & Resonance
A. Sound Intensity

Intensity = P
4 II r
2



P = Power (Watts)
Intensity ( watts/meter
2



B. Forced Vibrations & Resonance
1) Resonance is an effect in which the
vibration of one object causes another object
to vibrate at its natural frequency
C . The Ear & hearing


1. Parts of the ear
a) outer ear- fleshy portion, ear canal ,
eardrum

b) middle ear- three small bones; transmit
vibrations from eardrum

c) inner ear cochlea; interprets sounds,
sends signals to brain

outer ear
middle ear
inner ear
ear canal
cochlea
eardrum
2. Hearing & sound & other cool stuff..

a) The normal range of human hearing is from
20 to 20,000 Hertz

b) Sounds below 20 Hertz are
called infrasonic (infrasound)


c) Sounds above 20,000 Hertz are
called ultrasonic (ultrasound)

d) Ships used ultrasound to locate objects
along the ocean floor

e) Bats and dolphins use ultrasound to
navigate
f) Ultrasound waves are used to produced
images of the interior organs of a patient
III Harmonics
Musical instruments make sound through the
vibration of a string, column of air, or membrane
A. Standing waves on a vibrating string
Harmonic series of standing waves on a
vibrating string:

f
n
= n
v_
2L
f = frequency (Hz)
n = harmonic number
L = length of the vibrating string (m)
v = speed of the wave in the string
fundamental frequency (1
st
harmonic) n = 1

second harmonic n = 2

(see Table 3 pg 423)
B. Standing waves in an air column
1. pipe with both ends open- all frequencies
present
Harmonic series of standing waves in a pipe
open at both ends:

f
n
= n
v_
2L
f = frequency (Hz)
n = harmonic number
L = length of the vibrating string (m)
v = speed of the wave in the string



2. If one end of a pipe is closed only odd
harmonics are present
Harmonic series of standing waves in a pipe
closed at one end:

f
n
= n
v_
4L
f = frequency (Hz)
n = harmonic number
L = length of the vibrating string (m)
v = speed of the wave in the string



3. harmonics account for the sound quality
(timbre)


4. the fundamental frequency determines
pitch
C. Beats
1. Produced by sound waves at slightly
different frequencies
a. the number of beats /sec = the
difference between the frequencies
Light
I Characteristics of light
A. electromagnetic waves
1. vary depending on frequency & wavelength

a. longest radio waves -least harmful

shortest gamma waves-most harmful

c f
C = speed of light in a vacuum (3 X 10
8
m/s)
f = frequency (Hertz)
wavelength (m)


2.Particles called photons
travel in a wave
ROY G BIV
3. Visible light is one small portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum
B. Characteristics of light
1. Frequency ; amount of energy carried


2. Speed- depends on the density of the
medium it is traveling through

3. Intensity (brightness) ; depends on the
amount of light

II Flat Mirrors

A. Reflection of light
1. change of the direction of ight
Bouncing off of light rays as they strike a
surface
2. How well the light is reflected depends on
the surface

a) rough surfaces- diffuse reflection

b) smooth surfaces ; angle of light coming in
is equal to the angle of light going out
1.Law of Reflection



Angle of incidence

Angle of reflection
B. Flat mirrors
1. Ray diagrams can predict image location
2. image: virtual , not magnified, reversed
III. Curved mirrors
(see table pg 464)
A) concave mirrors- curve inward
Mirror surface
1. radius of curvature determines where
image will appear & how large the image is

2. Image location
For an image in front of the mirror, M will be
negative and the image will be inverted
(virtual).

When the image is "behind" the mirror, m is
positive and the image is upright (real).


3. mirror equation


1 1 1
p q f
=
p = object distance
q = image distance
f = focal length

+


M = h = - q
h p

M = Magnification
h = Image height
h = Object height
q = Image distance
p = Object distance
magnification equation
If M is
+ virtual upright image
- Real inverted image
b) convex mirrors- bulge outward
Mirror surface

C. Parabolic mirrors
1. used by reflecting telescopes
IV Color & Polarization
A. Additive Primary colors
red, blue, green

red + green = yellow
red + blue = magenta
blue + green = cyan
red + green + blue = white light
B Subtractive Primary colors- yellow, magenta,
cyan
Refraction

A. Refraction
1.Bending of light as it travels from one
substance into another
a)When light travels from a substance with
less density to one with more density , it slows
down, and the rays bend toward the normal
line

b) n = c
v
n = index of refraction
c= speed of light in a vacuum
v = speed of light in medium
air
water
normal line
b) When light travels from a substance with
less density to one with a greater density it
bends away from the normal line


water
air
Snells Law
n
i
sin = n
r
sin
Index of refraction of the first medium x the sine of the
angle of incidence =
Index of refraction of the second medium x the sine of
the angle of refraction

II Thin Lenses..
change the direction of light

A. Types of lenses
1. Converging lenses (double concave)
2. Diverging lenses (double convex)

C. equations


1 1 1
p q f
=
p = object distance
q = image distance
f = focal length

+


M = h = - q
h p

M = Magnification
h = Image height
h = Object height
q = Image distance
p = Object distance
magnification equation
If M is
+ virtual upright image
- Real inverted image

III Total Internal reflection
A. when light moves from a medium with a
higher index of refraction to a lower index of
refraction

B. Critical angle- the refracted ray moves
parallel to the boundary & is reflected

sin
c
= n
r
n
i