Waves

Nature of waves

All waves are caused by oscillations

and all transfer ……………………..and
………………….. without transferring
matter.

This means that a sound wave can

transfer energy to your eardrum from a
far speaker without the air particles by
the speaker moving into your ear. We
will now look at the two types of waves
and how they are different

Classifying waves

Waves (medium)

………………………….. …………………………..
 Waves (Particle movement)

…………………………………………….. ……………………………………………..

Waves (Energy Transfer)

……………………………………………………. …………………………………………………
Transverse Waves
 Here is a transverse wave; the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
 Where the particles are displaced above the equilibrium position we call a peak and below we
call a trough.
 The wavelength is the distance from one peak or trough to the next.
 The amplitude is the maximum distance the particle moves from its equilibrium position up or
down.
 Longitudinal Wave
 Here is a longitudinal wave; the oscillations are parallel to the direction of propagation (travel).
 Where the particles are close together we call a compression and where they are spread we call
a rarefaction.
 The wavelength is the distance from one compression or rarefaction to the next.
 The amplitude is the maximum distance the particle moves from its equilibrium position to the
right of left.

Quantities describing waves

 Amplitude (A): the
……………………………………………….. from the
equilibrium position.

 Wavelength (λ): distance between two ……………………………

peaks (for transverse waves) or distance between two
……………………………… compressions (for longitudinal
waves).

 Period (T): time taken for …………………………………………..

oscillation.
 Frequency (f): number of complete …………………………… per
second
If a certain point completes 5 oscillations in 1s, then its frequency is 5Hz. The time it takes to
complete one oscillation is then 0.2s. So, its period is 0.2s. Period is the reciprocal of frequency.
That is
𝟏
T=
𝐟

 Waves that have an infinite length are called continuous waves. Actually, according to
the definition of continuous wave, it has infinite length, which is not possible in reality.
It is only a physics model. Usually, people regard long wave trains as continuous waves.

 Waves that have a beginning and end are called wave

trains.

 Waves with a very short length(less than a couple of wavelengths) are

called pulse.

Wavefront

A wavefront is a line or a surface that connects points that are moving at the same phase and
has the same distance from the source of the waves.
Wave front is always perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.

 Speed of the wave (V)

Speed = D/t
Speed= λ/T
But T=1/f
So,
Speed= frequency × wavelength

V= f×λ
Example:
13.725 kHz is one of the frequencies that BBC broadcasts its East Asian programs.
What is the wavelength of these radio waves? (speed of electromagnetic waves =3×10 8ms-1)
Using graphs to describe waves
Displacement- Distance graphs

 The graph that shows the waveform on the

string at a certain time.
 It’s like a picture of the string. In this graph, the
horizontal axis represents the distance from the
source of the wave, the vertical axis represents
the displacement of each point of the string at
this time. This graph is called a displacement-
distance graph.
 We can find the……………………………….. and the ………………………………… from these type of
graphs.

Displacement-time graph

 The graph shown above shows the

oscillation of a certain point on
the string.
 It describes how the displacement
of this point changes with time. In
this graph, the axis represents the
time and the vertical axis
represents the displacement of
this point at different times. This
graph is called a displacement-
time graph.
 You can know the …………………….and …………………….. from such a graph.
 Graphical Representation of Waves
We can show that both longitudinal and transverse waves can be represented by a displacement-
distance graph. If we take a snapshot of a wave at any instant, we see:

For a transverse wave we see that the graph looks very similar to the actual wave.

 At the next instant particle movement can be represented as follows.(using a dotted line) and
we can represent all particle motions in the new wave

 If the particle was starting to move from the negative side. At next instant their movement
directions can be represented as follows.
For a longitudinal wave the graph is not so easy to see.

Let us look at the air molecules in their undisturbed positions and compare them as a sound wave
passes by.

The diagram shows the shape of a wave on the surface of a tank of water at one instant of time.
The wave is travelling to the right.
On the diagram

(a) Mark a point on the

water surface whose
motion is exactly 180o
out of phase with the
motion at X. Label this
point A,
(b) Draw an arrow at
point Y to show the
direction in which the
water at Y is moving at the instant shown,
(c) Mark a point on the water surface that is at rest at the instant shown. Label this point B.
Phase and Phase difference
The ……………………… in a wave is call the phase.
The position of a point on a wave, in terms of the ……………….. with respect to the starting point of the
wave is known as the phase angle. It can be measured in …………………… or ………………….. (c).

The amount of angle by which one oscillation leads or lags behind another is called Phase
difference

The above discussed graphs can be used to explain the ideas of phase and phase difference.
Consider the following displacement- time graph.

Timing of the oscillation starts when the particle ‘o’ is moving upwards through the mid- point
which is marked as ‘o’ on the graph. The points 0, A,B,C,D represents the stages or the phases
of one complete cycle of vibration

Point A: The particle is at the …………………………………….. position. It has completed

………………………………………………… of the cycle, and it is said to be …………………………. Or
………………………………… radian out of phase with point ‘o’. There is no proper relationship
between their displacements or vibrating directions
Point B: Particle is moving down through the mid- point. It is exactly half a cycle behind point
‘o’. The phase difference is ………………………………… or ……………………………radian. So point 0 and B
are said to be in antiphase or ……………………. Their displacements have the same …………………,
but are in ………………… directions. They vibrate in ………………… directions.

Point C: The particle is at the negative extreme position. Three quarter of the cycle from the
starting point. The phase difference is …………………………………. Or …………………..radians. this is
also called ………………………………………….

Part D: The particle has reached the end at one cycle and at the same position and moving at
the same direction as point ‘o’. The phase difference between 0 and D is ………………………….. or
………………………………. Radians. We say the points are in-phase. Magnitudes and directions of
their displacements are ……………………………. Their vibrating directions should be …………………..
The names In phase, out of phase and anti-phase are called as phase relationships

Points Phase difference/ Phase difference/ Common terms used

degrees radians to describe the phase
difference
0 and D In phase

O and B Exactly out of phase (antiphase)

A and B

O and C
 Finding the phase relationship between two waves
1. Extend the second wave ………………… until the first wave is
recreated.
2. Hence, determine the ……………….. difference.
3. State the phase relationship between the two waves
based on the …………………… difference.

State the phase relationship of the waves with respect to

the first wave

1. A wave motion is described by the graphs bellow.

 a) State the amplitude.
b) State the wavelength
c) Give all the pairs of points, other than (O and D) and (A and E), which are in-phase.
d) Give all the pairs of points, other than (O and B) and (A and C), which are anti-phase.
e) Give all the pairs of points, other than (O and A ) and (A and B), which have a phase
difference of ∏/2
f) State the period of the motion
g) Determine the frequency of the motion
h) Hence calculate the wave speed.

2. The diagram shows a snap shot of a transverse wave on a rope. The wave is moving to the
right.several particales P,Q,R, S, T,U are shown. The direction of movement of the particle Q
is shown.

a) Copy the diagram and draw arrows to show the direction in which the particle P, T and
U are moving.
b) Which pairs of particles are in in-phase and and in anti-phase
 3.

(a) From the diagram, determine the amplitude and wavelength of the wave.
(b) State whether point M is moving downwards or upwards at the moment this displacement-
distance graph is obtained.
(c) Sketch the displacement-time graph of point M to describe its motion during next period.
(d) Mark a point on the waveform whose motion is exactly 180o out of phase with the motion of
point M. Label this point N.

4. The diagrams show the variation with time t of the displacement x of the two identical
cones of loudspeakers A and B in air.
Calculate:
(a) the frequency of the vibration of the
speaker cones.
(b) the phase difference between the
speaker signals.
(c) What kind of wave is being produced
in the air by each speaker?
(d) Which speaker produces the loudest
sound? Explain your answer.
(e) The speed of sound in air is 340 m s-
1. What is the wavelength of the sound
waves?