Waves

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 Waves
What is a wave?
It is the process of propagating oscillation in space.
What are transmitted by a wave?
Energy, momentum, phase, but the particles are not.

Waves can be classified according to direction of particle motion.

(a) Transverse wave: If the motion of the particle is perpendicular to the
direction of propagation of the waves itself.
(b) Longitudinal wave: If the motion of the particle is parallel to the
direction of propagation of the waves.

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 Transfer wave
In a transverse wave the particle displacement is perpendicular to the
direction of wave propagation.
The particles do not move along with the wave; they simply oscillate
up and down about their individual equilibrium positions as the
wave passes by.

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 Longitudinal wave
In a longitudinal wave the particle displacement is parallel to the
direction of wave propagation.
The particles do not move down the tube with the wave; they simply
oscillate back and forth about their individual equilibrium positions..
The wave is seen as the motion of the compressed region (i.e., it is a
pressure wave), which moves from left to right.

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 Longitudinal & Transverse wave

(A) Longitudinal waves are created in a spring when the free end is
moved back and forth parallel to the spring. (B) Transverse waves
are created in a spring when the free end is moved up and down.
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 Water wave
Water waves are an example of waves that involve a combination of
both longitudinal and transverse motions.
As a wave travels through the waver, the particles travel in
clockwise circles.
The radius of the circles decreases as the depth into the water
increases.

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 Wave Terms
Wave Crest
The maximum disturbance a wave will create from the resting
position
Wave trough
Maximum displacement a wave will create in the opposite direction
from the resting position.
Amplitude
The magnitude of the displacement to either the crest or the trough.
Period
The time required for a wave to repeat itself
This is the time that is required to move through one full wave cycle.

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 Wave Terms

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 Wave properties
Wavelength
The distance from one crest of a wave to the crest of the next wave.
The unit of wavelength is meters in SI system.

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 Wave properties
Period T (= how long?)
The period T of a wave is the time required for one complete wave
to pass a given point.
The SI unit of the period T is seconds.

Frequency f (= how many?)

The frequency f is the number of waves that pass a point per
second.
The SI unit of the period f is Herz or Hz.

1
f
T
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 Wave properties
Amplitude A
The amplitude A of a wave is the maximum displacement of the particles of
the medium through which the wave passes on either side of their equilibrium
positions.
In a transverse wave, the amplitude is half distance between the top of the
crest and the bottom of the trough.
Intensity I
The intensity I of a wave is the rate at which it transports energy per unit
area perpendicular to its direction of the motion.
The intensity of a mechanical wave is proportional to the square of its
frequency f 2 and its amplitude A2 .

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 Speed of a wave
We find speed by distance divided by time.
The same holds true for waves!

Speed of a wave = Wavelength/Period = v
T

Speed of a wave = Wavelength*Frequency = v f

In SI, speed of wave has a unit of meter per second.

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 Speed of a Wave
The speed of a wave is constant within a medium.
The speed can change when a wave enters a new medium
All waves of the same type travel at the same speed
This means wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency!
If the wavelength increases the frequency has to decrease!
If the wavelength decreases the frequency has to increase!

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 Basic Logarithms

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 Sound
Sound travels as vibrations moving through the air as a compressional
wave.
Sound travels through air, but travels through other materials as well.
Whale communicate through long distances by producing sounds
under water.
Sound wave is a compressional longitudinal wave.
On a compressional wave the area squeezed together is called the
compression. The areas spread out are called the rarefaction.

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 Speed of Sound
The velocity of sound is a constant for a given material at a given
pressure and temperature.
Medium velocity m/sec
air (20 C) 343
air (0 C) 331
water (25 C) 1493
sea water 1533
diamond 12000
iron 5130
copper 3560
glass 5640

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 Intensity
When sound wave spread out uniformly in space, their intensity
decreases inversely with the square of the distance R from their source.
If the intensity of a certain sound is I1 at distance R1, its intensity I2 at
distance R2 can be found from

I 2 R12
2
I1 R2
2
where I has a unit of W/m
However, the decibel (dB) scale is used for sound intensity.
The intensity of I in dB of a sound wave whose intensity I W/m2
is given as:
I
I dB 10 log where I 0 is 10-12 W/m 2
I0

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 What determines the loudness of
different sounds?

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 Power gain
If power input to an amplifier or other signal processing device is
Pin and the power output of the device is Pout then the power gain
G of the system in decibel is defined as:
Pout
G dB 10 log
P in

Note: A change in audio power output of 1 dB is about the minimum

that can be detected by a person with good hearing; usually must be
2 or 3 dB to be apparent.

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 Doppler effect
Doppler Effect is the apparent change in the frequency of a sound caused by the
motion of either the listener or the source of the sound.
When there is a relative motion between a source of waves and an observer, the
apparent frequency of the waves is different from their frequency fs at the source.
When the source approaches the observer (or vice versa), the observed frequency
is higher.
When the source recedes the observer (or vice versa), the observed frequency is
lower.

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 Doppler effect
For sound wave, the frequency f hear by the listener hears is given as:

v vL
f f s
v is the velocity of sound v vs
vL is the velocity of the listener (consider positive for motion toward the
source and negative for motion away from the source)
vs is the velocity of the source (consider positive for motion toward the
listener and negative for motion away from the listener)

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Doppler effect (Electromagnetic wave)
The Doppler effect in electromagnetic waves (light and radio waves) obeys the following
formula.

1
1 (v / c ) 2
f f s
c is the velocity of light (3108 m/s) 1 (v / c )
v is the velocity between the source and observer (consider positive if they are approaching
and negative if they are receding)
Astronomers use the Doppler effect to determine the motions of stars and police use the
effect in radar waves to determine the vehicle velocity.

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 Interference
the result of two or more sound
waves overlapping

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 Different sounds that you hear include (A) noise, (B) pure
tones, and (C) musical notes.

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