Mechanical Waves

Waves are thetransfer of energy from one place to another

without the net transfer of matter

Mechanical waves
require a medium to travel
Alabama

through
Mechanical waves can move over very long distances but the
particles of the medium only have very limited movement

Pulses vs Periodic waves

A single wave pulse can be formed by giving a single up

and down motion on a slinky spring as shown in figure f 1.2Ca
In a continuous wave or periodic wave continuous vibrations
of the source such as shown in Figure 8 1.2 b will cause
the particles within the medium to oscillate about their
average position in a regular repetitive or periodicpattern

modem
The energy from the vibration moves through the medium
Transverse Waves

When waves travel on water or

through a rope spring orstring the

particles within the medium vibrate

upanddown in a directionperpendicular
or transverse to the direction of
motion of the wave energy

When the are displaced upwards from the average

particles
position or resting position they reach a mauimum positive
displacement called a crest Particles below the average
positron
fall to a maximum negative position called a trough

Longitudinal Waves

In a longitudinal mechanical wave the vibration of the particle

within the medium are in the same direction or parallel to the
direction of energy flow at the wave
 Compressions are those areas where the coils of the slinky come
together

Expansions are regions where the coils are spread apart These
are also referred to as rarefactions

Measuring Mechanical waves

displacement distance graphs

displacement distance graphs show the displacement of all particles

along the length of a transverse wave at a particular point in tim

madtom
From a displacement distance graph the amplitude and the
wavelength of a wave are easily recognisable

The amplitude of the wave is the manimum displacementof the

particle from the average or rest position The total distance a particle
would move through in one cycle is 2x the amplitude Thelarger the
amplitude ofthe wave the greater the energy intensity
The wavelength of a wave is the distance between any
two successive points in a phase points A and B or X any in Figure
8.2 2 The symbol for the wavelength is lambda Z and it units
is meters cm Basically it is the length of a single cycle
or the distance a wave travels during one period Two
be in a phase if they have the same
particles are said to
displacements from the average position and are moving in
the same direction

The frequency f
is the number of complete cycles that pass a given

point per second and is measured in hertz He In other words

it is the number of cycles in one second

Example Question

based on the graph the wavelength is 0.4 m and the

amplitude is 2cm or O Ohm
 Displacement time graphs

Jg

ihram

I
g ly

time graphs track theposition ofone point overtime

Displacement
as the wave moves throughthatpoint

The distance
method
between two successive points in phase in a
displacement time graph is called Theperiod T of the wave which
is measured in seconds Cs

The period is simply the time taken for A complete

cycle We can calculate this using the inverse relationship between
the period and the frequency

to Thedirectionofmotionof a particular particle can be determined from

 p g p
Example Question

Based on the graph the amplitude is 0 lm the period is 0.5 seconds

and the frequency is 2Hz

TheWave Equation

speed is given by

distance travelled d
time taken at

This can be re written in terms of the distance of one wave

length X in one period CT which gives us the relationship

tI This to mechanical
 Example Question

3.0 108
V f a f 4 0 10 7
7.5 1014 Hz

Example Question

f Yy 34,004,4 7.5 1014 Hz T

y.jo 1.33 10 15 seconds

The Doppler Effect

The Dopplereffect is produced when the source

of a with respect to the observer

wave moves

causing an apparent shift in frequency for the

observer
Note frequency doesn'tactually change it

merely appears to for the observer

A B C
A B c

whenthesource is movingtowards
When the source is stationary C it appearsto euperrence a higherfrequency
and A appearsto hear a lowerfrequency
A B andC will euperiencethesamefrequency However only B will eurewencethe
 Doppler Calculations

f is the apparent or observed frequencyCHz

fo is the originalfrequency Hz
V is thespeedofthe waves in themediumCms I
Vo is thespeed d theobserver relative to the
medium Cms Ct ve if theobserver is movingtowards
thesource C we when movingaway

Wave Interactions

Mechanical waves transfer energy through a medium A

medium is necessary but there will be times where the
medium physically ends e.g When a water wave meets the edge
of a pool or air meets a wall

A change
methane.hr

physical characteristics in the medium such

in

as density and temperature can act like a change in medium

Therefore when the medium ends or changes the wave
doesn'tstop Instead the energy that the wave is
carrying
will undergo three procenes
 Some energy will be reflected
some energy will be absorbed by the new medium
some energy will be transmitted

mtBt The interaction of mechanical waves results in superposition

Reflection

When a transverse wave hard surface

pulse reaches a

such as the fried end of a rope the wave is bounced back or

reflection

e.g

This inversion can also be referred to as a 1800 change or phase

eupressed in terms of the wavelength 2 a shift in phase of
I
2
 When a wave pulse hits the end of the rope that is free to
move known as free boundary the pulse returns with no change
in phase
e
g

When the transverse wave

pulse is reflected the amplitude
Mahatma

of the reflected quite the same as the orginal

wave isn't
This is as part of the energy of the wave is absorbed by the
post where some of the energy will be transferred into
heat energy and some will continue to travel through
thepost

This idea is reflected in the diagram below as the change

in density has the same effect as the change in medium
 When the transverse wave pulse is sent down the rope
from the light rope to the heavier rope part of the
wave pulse part of it will be
will be reflected and

rope As the heavierrope is

transmitted to the heavier
heavier a smaller proportion of the wave is transmitted
into it and a larger proportion of it will be reflected
back

Reflected Wave Fronts

2Band 3D waves such as water waves travel
as wave fronts When drawing wave fronts it
is common to show the crests of the waves

math When close to thesource wave fronts show

a considerable amount of curvature or

may
even be spherical when generated in 3D This
is depicted in Ias

motors
When a wave has travelled a long distance from its
source the wave nearly straight and
front is is called a

plane wave This is depicted in lbs

The direction
of motion of any wave front can be represent

by a line drawn perpendicular to the wave front and

 g g
These lines are called rays and the angle from the normal
where the wave strikes the surface will equal the anglefrom
the normal to the reflected wave The normal is an imaginary
line at 900 perpendicular to the surface

These angles of the incident and reflected waves from

the normal are labelled Oi and Oi
This the law of reflection The law of
mother
is referred to as
reflection States that the angle of reflection measured at the
normal equals the angle of incidence measuredfrom the
normal that is 0 Or
This law can be applied to any surface
 When wave fronts meet
irregular rough surface the
an

resulting reflection can be spread over a broad area This

is because each point on the surface may reflect theportion
of the wave front reaching it in a different direction as
seen above This is rettered to as diffuse reflection
Superposition
When two transverse mechanical waves
toff
are travelling towards each other along
Jffh a string as shown in Cas The crest of one

gMgMg wave coincides with the crest of the other

resulting in the displacement of the string
fft is the vector sum of the two individual
fgµfff displacements as shown in Cbi After they
interact two pulses continue unaltered The
resulting pattern is a consequence ofthe
toff
principle superposition In this case as

Jtf
g the two waves added together constructive
superposition occurred
Ift
f When a
pulse with active displacement mee
fgfhhf.tl one with a c we displacementca the resulting
will have a smaller amplitude the
fight
1 wave as

resulting displacement ofthe string is therecto

sum ofthetwo individualdisplacements b
This is called destructive superposition andonce
pulses Cd
 Both transverse and longitudinal waves experiencethis

Superimposed

Resonance
math Resonance
occurs when an enternal force vibrates a system
at a frequency that enactly matches one of the natural
frequencies The system absorbs energy from the driving force
Vibrations don't die down quickly
The system vibrates with a large amplitude

Two very significant effects occur when the natural resonant

frequency of an obtect is matched by the forcing bequeney
metThe amplitude of the oscillations within theresonatingobdeet will
meth
The maximum from the source creating theforced
possible energy
vibration is transferred to the resonating object

Standing Waves

A standing
mkohtYfhg9

wave is a specific type of wave pattern

where a reflected and interferes with itself
wave is

constructively At various points the standing wave will have

zero displacement nodes and marimum displacement at others
anti nodes

Standing waves can only be formed at a very specific

frequency The reason for this is because when the wave is
reflected back the driving wave at the other end must be
exactly in phase i e a
peak meets a peak and a trough meets
a trough

Standing formed from the superposition of waves

waves a

They occur when two waves of the same amplitude and

frequency are travelling in opposite directions towards each other
in the same
string Usually one wave is the reflection of
the other
 Standing Waves in a string

Standing waves are named that way as the wave

doesn't appear to be travelling along the rope It simply
seems to oscillate and down with a fined pattern
up

In the diagram above two waves drawn in blue are

shown travelling in opposite directions towards each other
along a rope One of the waves is a string of pulses shown as
a solid line and the other is a reflection Cshown as a dashed
line
 The two waves then superimpose when they meet Since
the amplitude and the frequency are the same the end
result shown in parties is a standing wave

Quick Note Interference of waves

Interference of waves occurs when two waves meet causing
a resultant wave that is the net effect of the individual
waves
constructive interference occurs when two waves meet with
displacements in the same direction Forenample if two wave

peaks meet eachother the net result will be an even

larger peak i e the waves have increased in strength

Destructive interference occurs when two waves meet with

different directions For enample if a wave
displacements in

peak meets with a wave trough then the net result

will be 0 i e the waves have cancelled each other out

At the points where destructive interference occurs the

two waves totally cancel each other out and the rope
will remain still These are called nodes

At the points
where the rope oscillates with manimum
amplitude constructive interference is occurring These points on
 the s S 0

maathai
Nodes and antinodes in a
standing wave remain in a fined
position for a particular frequency of vibration

marathon
The frequencies at which standing waves are produced
are called resonant frequencies of the rope

Note Standing waves are not a natural consequence of

every wave reflection Standing waves are only produced
by the superposition of two waves of equal amplitude
and frequency travelling in opposite directions

madtom
standing waves are a result of resonance and occur
only at the natural frequencies of vibration or resonant
frequencies of the particular medium
Harmonics

The resonant frequencies produced in this complete vibration of

multiple standing waves are termed Harmonics

a isthe lowest and simplest formof vibration with one

antinode is called the fundamental frequency

b and e are higher level harmonics and are referred

to by musicians as overtones

The fundamental frequency

usually has the greatest amplitude
so it has the greatest influence on the sound The amplitude

generally decreases foreach subsequent harmonic

The resonant
string of length
frequencies or harmonies in a
I can be calculated from the relationship between the
length of the string and the wavelength X oh He
comesponding Handing wave
For a string fined at bothends

Using the wave equation r f 2 gives the relationship

between frequency velocity and string length
For a string fined at one end and free at the other end the
standing waves are shown in the diagram below

For these

kgagg.iaa.gov
 Example Question

a 7 0.50 D 2nd 0.25M

b A hX0
In 0 0.17M

Light as a wave

Wave Model Vs Particle Model

Newton euplained light in terms of particles with each

different colour of the spectrum representing a
different type of particle

Hooke and Huygens proposed an alternative model

that described light as a type of wave like the ones
observed in the ocean
 key point of
maktab
difference between the two theories
was that Newton's corpuscular theory suggested that light
would speed up as it travelled through a solid material
such as glass In comparison the wave theory predicted
that light would be slower in glass than in air

Huygens Principle

each point on a wavefront can be considered as

a source of secondary wavelets Csmall waves

each point on the initial wavefront can be

treated as a point source producing circular
waves

After one period the circular waves

would have advanced by a distance
equal he 1 wavelength
Example Questions
 A model be used to euplain important features
Hooked
wave can

of light refraction
dispersion
diffraction
polarisation

Refraction is a change in the direction of light caused

by changes in its speed

Changes in the speed of light occur when light passes from

one medium substance into another

light waves are moving from an incident

medium where they have high speed V
into a transmitting medium where they
have a lower speed Va

At the same time the wave travels

a distance V o t C B toD in the incident
medium

ittravels a shorter distance Va Ot CA to c in the

transmitting medium

Note happen
 g

tight waves slow down as they move from air to glass

so the direction oh propagation of the wave is refracted
to the normal

Conversely when a light wave moves from glass to

air it is refracted away from the normal slow toFast

Note when a wave changes its speed its wavelength

changes its frequency
is still the same number of waves waves cannot begained
nor lost

Refractive Indeu amountofreaction that occurs depends on

howmuch the speed of light changes as light moves from one

medium to another

the change in the speedof a wave is called the

Bear

refractive indue n

h value table also referred to

as the absolute
refractive index of
the material
 Example Question

A 3.00 108 52
g 197 108

Refractive index of a vacuum is enactly 1

Example Question

h V hav j 1.33 2.25 108 1.62 108 ms t

Va
1 85
Snell's Law
Refractive indexes can also be used to determine how

much a light ray will refract as it moves from one medium

to another

0 These
angles can be
worked out using
0 Snell's law

Example Question

HsinO nasing sin

finfo 28.20
 Total internal reflection

Fat When light

passes from a medium with how refactrainden
to one with a higer refractive index it is refracted towards the
normal

methods

when light passes from a medium with a high

Conversely

refractive index to one with a lower refractive index it is refracted

away from the normal

In this case the angleof

too
incidence increases and gets closer
to 90
Eventually at an angle of incidence knownas the critical
angle where the angle of refraction becomes 90 and
the light is refracted along the interface between the two
mediums

If the angle of incidence is increased abovethis value the

light ray doesn't undergo refraction rather it undergoes
the phenomena called total internal reflection where the
light is reflected back into the original medium
Since theangle of refraction for the critical angle angle is 90
the critical angle is delvedby the formula

Example Question

h Sin Q n sin900 sin Eff

Sina 24.40

Dispersion

When white light passes through

a
triangular glass prism it underope
dispersion as a result of refraction
 According to the wave model of light each different colour
represents a of a different wavelength white light
wave
is a miuture of light waves with many different
wavelengths

When white light passes from onematerial to another and the

light waves slow down the wavelength shortens as
the wavelengths of each colour change by different
amounts each colour o travels at a slightly different
speed in the new medium and each colour is refracted
by a slightly different amount

wavelengths like red

Fm Longer
aol.tl

travel the fastest in the

new material o are refracted the least

Had.at
Shorter wavelengths such as those in violet travel the
slowest o are refracted the most

Thereby each colour of light has a different

 eh we en in a a at
colour dispersion in lenses

of tight
metadata
since each colour elfectively has a different
refractiveinden in glass light passing through a glass
lens always undergoes some form of dispersion

To combat this problem you can use lenses withThecallengt

use achromatic lenses
separateimage using
coloured fillers then combining
them to form a single
multicoloured image
Diffraction
When a wave passes
plane straight
through a narrow opening it bends
these waves will bend as they
travel around obstacles

This phenomenon is called

Diffraction

The diffraction of a wave is significant when the

size of the
opening or obstacle is similar to or
smaller than the wavelength of the wave

Note Lnm 10am

Diffraction and slit width

This tells us that a gap that is similar to the

wavelength will result in significant diffraction
 g
However the is much bigger than the wavelength
gap
so therefore diffraction only occurs at the edges

x 31
w

Diffraction and imaging Diffraction is a problem forscientists

blurred images
h oblects could appear as I
ratio dictates how small an
object can be clearly imaged by a

particular instrument

Diffraction Gratings When light waves are made to shine on

a The areas of constructive interference aid appear

screen
as bright bands
The areas of destructive interference will appear
as dark bands
the pattern of dark and tight bands that is seen
when light passes through a single small is
gap
called a diffraction pattern
 The eulent oh diffraction of light
waves is proportional to the ratio Iw
O intensity dark bands

A diffraction grating is a series of parallel slits all

placed sideby side The diffraction pattern from one
slit is superimposed on the pattern from the adjacent
slit producing a strong clear image on the screen

Diffraction cuperiments are usually carved out

using only monochromatic light light ofonly one
colour

o when white light shines through a diffraction

grating each different colour is distracted by a
different amount producing its own colour
fringes
Polarisation

Polarisation occurs when a transverse wave is

only
allowed to vibrate in one direction

It is also one of
the most convincing pieces of
evidence for the wave nature of light

The light wave above is vertically polarised the wave

oscillations occur in the vertical plane only Whichalso
means it is unaffected by a polarising filter that is
 her

A horizontally polarised wave is blocked by the vertical

polarising filler

The incoming wave is polarised at to the horizontal and

450
vertical planes The horizontal component of this wave is
blocked by the vertical filter the ongoing wave is
vertically polarised and has a smaller amplitude than the
original wave
 Light produced by such as a light globe or the
sources
sun is anpolarised which means that it can be
thought of as a collection of waves each with
different planes of polarisation

Certain materials can act as polarising fillers her light

they only transmit the waves or components of waves
that are polarised in a particular director and absorb
the rest This reduces the glare
Interference Further evidence for the wave model
light
Thomas Young's observation of interference patterns in

light was a pivotal moment in the history of science

His
weather.BE

had tipped the scales in a long running

observations

dispute between scientists about the nature of light

and paved the way for a new understanding of

light and matter

Young's Double Slit Experiment
shone monochromatic light on a screen
containing
two small slits On the far side of the double slits
he placed another screen on which he observedthe
pattern produced by the light passing through the
slits

According to Newton's particle theory light

meat

should have directly passed through the slits to

produce 2 bright tights or
bands on the screen like in
9

meet
Instead Young observed a series of bright and
dark bands aka hinges
 he was able to euplain this brightand dark pattern
by beating light as a wave He assumed that the
monochromatic light was like plane waves and that as
they passed through the narrow slits theseplanes
were diffracted into coherent Cinphase circular
waves as shown above

The circular waves would interact causing interference

The interference The interference pattern produced by these
two waves will result in lines of constructive Cantinodal
and destructive Chodal interference that would match
bright and dark fringes respectively
 Young had also observed similar interference patterns
in water waves

Path Difference

C in metres butfar more useful as wavelength

At point M there is no path difference as SM Sam

There is an antinode at
point M A hinge of bright light is
seen Central mauimum this is referred to as constructive
interference
 Constructive interference
Makoto
will occur whenever the path
difference between the two train waves is 0 or differs
by a whole number of wavelengths O X 12,2 X
31 oo

There will also be points on the screen at which the

path difference shown above as N The two
Iz as
wave trains that meet at this point are completely
out of phase and cancel eachother out to produce a
nodal point so a dark fringe is created Destructive
interference occurs at this point it occurs when the
difference
path 12 IL SLI 711 ooo

weather.IN
summary

The sequence of constructive and destructiveinterference

effects produces an interference pattern of regularly
spaced vertical bands on the screen that can be
tepierund on the graph below
Calculating fringe separation forYoung's euperimento

qq.si.angYffffts Opdistanetge'T

O
binge
spacing

what relationship can be determined from this

Nah 0kt
Id GULX
If theviewingscreen reducing separation light d longer
is moved furtherfrom chtheshts increaks wavelength will
thetwo slits the fringe the spacing of the increase the hinge
annerfurlhrapart fringes spacing
Fringe Separation Parameters The relationships above can be
combined to develop an overall equation for the fringe

separation

Example Question

2
At 2dL 25 10 6 X 3.3 10
dqU_ D 15
5.5 10 m

i 109
nm m e 12 550nm
X109
Resistance to the wave model
Young wave cuplanation wasn't immediately accepted
into the scientific community as many scientists were
reluctant to abandon the corpscular theory

In 1818the French scientist Augustin Jean Fresnel

was able to provide a mathematical euplanation
for Young's double slit experiment based on Huygens's
principle

However another French scientist Simeon Poisson who

supported Newton's particle theory argued that if
the same mathematics was applied to the light
shining around a dish there should be a bright
spot in the middle of the shadow created by the
disk
 One of Poisson's colleagues tested this and found
a small bright light in the middle

Electromagnetic Waves

The Electromagnetic nature of light

electric current can be used to make magnetic field
a

A changing magnetic field can be used to generate

an electromotive force CEMF
o Manwell proposed that if a changing electric field is
produced it will produce a changing magnetic held
at right angles to it
 The changing magnetic field would in turn produce
a changing electric field and the cycle continues

Both the electric and magnetic field would

motorman

oscillate at the same frequency the frequency of the

light wave

For light and other forms of EMR

Example Question

C f 2 f 3.0 108 1014

Cj 600 10 9
5.0 Hz
Searching for the aether
mechanical waves require a physical medium through
which to propagate Sound waves propagate through air and
water with water

The physical medium through which electromagnetic

waves is called the luminiferous ether or
propagate
aether However since all attempts to measure the
presence or properties of the aether were unsuccessful
eventually it was concluded that electromagnetic
waves are able to propagate through a vacuum

The electromagnetic
spectrum
The wavelengths of all the different colours of visible
light fall between 390 nm 780mm

Note The visible spectrum is just one small

part In the
electromagnetic spectrum
Changing the frequency and wavelength of the waves
changes the properties of electromagnetic radiation so the
electromagnetic spectrum is decided to how particular EMR
are used

mate
shorter the wavelength of the EM wave the greater
its penetrating power

RadioWaves transit information from one point to another

They are the longest type of EU waves
Transmitter converts into an AC current
signal
AC flows to transmission antenna
electrons in antenna oscillate a

oscillation produces corresponding EM wave

it radiates outwards in all directions
When the radio wave is received the electrons
oscillate in the same way
radio receiver reverses theprecess to read
 g

Infrared Lies between microwaves and visible light in

the EM

Longer than the red waves at the visible spectrum

heatyou feel when standing neut to an electric bar

healer of fire is due to electromagnetic radiation
Ultraviolet
light shorter wavelength than violet light i

cannot be detected by human eye

Shorter wavelength
stronger penetrating power than
visible light
Xrays and gamma rays shorter wavelengths than visibleligh
high penetration power