Waves

• Waves


  Oscillations/perturbations that travel through a medium
• Waves


  • Carry energy
  • Carry information between different places
  • It is the wave that travels, not the particles of the medium
• Water particles in a ripple tank only move up and down as the waves pass through a point, but they are not carried forward by the wave
• Transverse waves


  Move up and down at right angles to the direction of travel of the wave
• Transverse waves


  • Ripples in water
  • Electromagnetic waves
• Longitudinal waves


  • Move parallel to the direction of travel of the wave
  • Have areas of compression and rarefaction
• Longitudinal waves


  • Sound waves
• Wave properties


  • Amplitude
  • Wavelength
  • Frequency
  • Wave speed
• Amplitude


  Maximum displacement of a point on a wave from its undisturbed position
• Wavelength


  Distance between a point on a wave and a point on the adjacent wave
• Frequency


  Number of waves passing a point each second
• Wave speed


  Speed the wave is moving through the medium or the speed the energy is being transferred in that medium
• Period


  Time taken for a full wave to pass through a point
• Wave reflection


  • Wave bounces off the boundary at the same angle from the normal
  • Normal is an imaginary line at a right angle to the boundary
  • Angle of incidence = angle of reflection
• Wave transmission


  • Material lets the wave through and the wave comes out the other side
• Wave absorption


  • Material doesn't transmit or reflect the wave
• Wave refraction


  • Wave changes direction at the boundary at a different angle from the normal
  • If transmitting material is denser, wave slows down and bends towards the normal
  • If transmitting material is less dense, wave speeds up and bends away from the normal
• What is a wave

  Oscillations that travel through a medium
• Wave


  A disturbance or vibration that travels through a medium, like water, air, or even through empty space, like light waves
• Waves


  • Carry energy from one place to another without actually moving the material they're traveling through
• Types of waves


  • Transverse waves
  • Longitudinal waves
• Transverse waves


  Waves where the particles of the medium move perpendicular (at right angles) to the direction of the wave
• Longitudinal waves


  Waves where the particles of the medium move parallel to the direction of the wave
• Wave characteristics


  • Wavelength
  • Frequency
  • Amplitude
• Wavelength


  The distance between two consecutive peaks (highest points) or troughs (lowest points) of a wave
• Frequency


  How many waves pass a fixed point in a certain amount of time, measured in Hertz (Hz)
• Amplitude


  The maximum displacement of particles from their rest position in a wave
• Light is made up of tiny particles called photons
• Photons don't have mass, but they carry energy and momentum
• The dual nature of light, behaving as both a wave and a particle, is one of the fundamental concepts in physics and is explained by quantum mechanics
• Refraction


  The bending of light as it passes from one transparent material into another
• White light is made up of a combination of different colours
• When white light passes through a prism, it separates into its component colours, creating a spectrum
• Colours of the spectrum

  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Indigo
  • Violet
• Each colour corresponds to a different wavelength, with red having the longest wavelength and violet the shortest
• Practical applications of light

  • Photography
  • Laser surgery
  • Fibre optics technology
• Reflection


  The bouncing back of light when it hits a surface
• Law of reflection


  The angle at which the light hits the surface (angle of incidence) is equal to the angle at which it bounces off (angle of reflection)
• Regular reflection


  Light rays bounce off a smooth surface in an organized manner, allowing for clear and sharp images
• Diffuse reflection


  Light rays scatter in all directions when hitting a rough or irregular surface