Spine Road High School

Physical Science Grade

10

Waves, Sound and Light

All waves can be divided into two types. Mechanical and electromagnetic waves. Mechanical waves are waves that
depend on matter to move. Mechanical waves include waves such as water or sound. Electromagnetic waves can
move through empty space. Electromagnetic waves include waves such as light, radio waves and x-rays.

Mechanical Waves

A wave is a disturbance that carries energy from one place to another. An example of a disturbance would be a
vibration or movement of particles. If a stone is dropped into a pond, it causes a disturbance and a pulse of water
moves away from the point where the stone is dropped. A speaker vibrates the air particles causing those particles
to vibrate more particles, until those vibrations reach our ear. Hearing is basically our ear detecting vibrations of
particles. A pulse is caused by a single vibration. Many of the same vibrations will result in many pulses that are the
same, and when all these pulses travel consistently one after the other, we call it waves.

Mechanical waves travel through vibrations, and vibrations are caused by a force. A perfect way to see how
mechanical waves travel is through a rope.

Transverse Waves

A transverse wave is a mechanical wave where the movement of the pulse travels at 90 degrees to the movement
of matter. On the diagram below, we can see that the pulse (which transports energy) is moving to the right but
each particle that makes up the rope is moving up and down. This is therefore a transverse wave because the pulse
is moving at 90 degrees to the movement of matter (particles).
Above is a diagram of all the properties of a transverse wave that we need to know. The red line is the rest position
of the rope if no pulse or waves were going through it. The highest point of a wave is called the crust. The lowest
point of a wave is called a trough. The wavelength of a wave is the distance between two consecutive crusts (or
two troughs). The amplitude of a wave is the distance from the rest position to the crust (or trough). The
amplitude is an indication of how much energy a wave has. The frequency of a wave is the amount of waves that
passes past a point in one second. The period of a wave is the time taken for a single wave to pass a point.

When the end of a rope is moved up once, it creates a pulse. When it is moved up and then down once, it creates
two pulses (one pulse with a crust and another with a trough). It takes two pulses (one with a trough and the other
with a crust) to create one transverse wave. This up and down movement is known as oscillation. If the end of the
rope is moved up and down constantly, it will create a stream of pulses, which will create a stream of waves. If the
energy of each of the pulses are the same, this will make each waves energy the same. If we have the same waves
moving in a wave train we can say that these waves are in phase. If it is not the same, we say it is out of phase. The
wavelength is the distance between two consecutive points that are in phase. One transverse wave is the same as
one wavelength and a pulse is the same as half a wavelength.

 Rest Position – The position of particles when no energy is flowing through it.
 Crust – Highest point of the wave.
 Trough – Lowest point of the wave.
 Amplitude (r) – The distance of the rest position to the Crust of the wave in metres (m).
 Wavelength (λ) – The distance between two consecutive Crusts in metres (m). Length of one wave.
 Frequency (f) – Number of wavelengths that pass a point per second in Hertz(Hz).
 Period (T) – Time taken for a wavelength to pass a single point in seconds (s)
 Velocity (v) – Speed the wave is travelling in metres per second (m/s)
Superposition

A pulse is caused by a single vibration. When two pulses meet, it is called a superposition. When two pulses
superpose (meet) each other, different things can happen depending on the energy and direction of each pulse.

The figure on the left shows us two pulses of different amplitudes

travelling towards each other. When they meet, they combine to
form an even greater amplitude. After meeting they will pass
each other. When two crests (or trough) meet, it is called
constructive interference.

The figure on the right shows us two pulses of different

amplitudes travelling towards each other. One pulse has a
crust while the other has a trough (they are on different sides
of the rest position). When these pulses meet, the amplitudes
will be subtracted. They will then pass each other and continue
on their way. When a crest and a trough meet, it is called
destructive interference.
The Pendulum

A vibration is the movements to and from a point that occurs even after the source of the disturbance (force) is
taken away. When we send a pulse through a rope, the vibrations travel through the particles of the rope even
though each individual rope particle did not experience the force directly. The vibrations where the particles
moved up and back to the rest position caused the next particles to vibrate. All these particles are vibrating by
moving from their rest position, to the crust, and back to its rest position. A pendulum Is another example of a
vibration where after it experiences a disturbance, it moves to and from its rest position.

The to and from motion experienced by a pendulum when it moves from point C to B is called simple harmonic
motion. Point A is known as the rest position. The distance from A to B (or A to C) is known as the amplitude. The
movement from point A to B to C and back to A is known as one vibrational cycle. The period of a vibration is the
time taken to complete on full vibrational cycle. The frequency of a vibration is the amount of vibrational cycles is
completed in one second.