Wave

Interactions
Is this a Wave hello, or something else?
How do waves
interact?
How do the environment affect waves?
How do other waves affect other waves?
Wave Speed
• The speed of a wave is
dependent on the Medium, its
frequency and wavelength.
Wave Speed
v = fλ
Where:
v = Velocity
f = Frequency
λ = Wavelength
A student tasked with a wave experiment
created a certain wave of wavelength 5 cm and
frequency of 4 Hz. If the student starts a wave
in one part of a tank of water, how long will it
take the wave to reach the opposite side of the
tank 2 meters away?
Wave
Propagation
• To propagate is “to spread out
and grow”
Wave Propagation
● waves propagate along surfaces that are
continuous.
● A wave cannot spread across a discontinuous
surface.
Boundary
• A point where conditions
change
• What a wave does at a
boundary depends on the
boundary conditions.
Boundary
• As such, waves interact with
other objects in 4 different ways.
Waves and Boundaries

1
Reflection 2
Refraction
Who is that Change is
wave I see? coming

3
Diffraction 4
Absorption
I can’t stop me I am no more
Reflection
● waves propagate along surfaces that are
continuous.
● A wave cannot spread across a discontinuous
surface.
Refraction
● waves propagate along surfaces that are
continuous.
● A wave cannot spread across a discontinuous
surface.
Diffraction
Absorption
Wave Interference
● occurs when two waves meet while traveling
along the same medium.

● The interference of waves causes the medium

to take on a shape that results from the net
effect of the two individual waves upon the
particles of the medium.
Wave Interference
● The phenomenon that occurs when two
waves meet while traveling along the same
medium.

● The interference of waves causes the medium

to take on a shape that results from the net
effect of the two individual waves upon the
particles of the medium.