3 Properties in waves

Question 1

What is a transverse wave?

Answer 1

It is a wave the oscillates at right angles to the direction in which the energy or wave is moving.

Question 2

What is a longitudinal wave?

Answer 2

It is a wave which oscillates along the direction in which the energy or wave is moving.

Question 3

What happens if the source of a wave vibrates quickly?

Answer 3

It will produce a large number of waves each second.

Question 4

What is an oscillation?

Answer 4

Going back in forth repeatedly between two positions or states.

Question 5

What is amplitude?

Answer 5

The maximum movement of particles from their resting or equilibrium position is called its amplitude.

Question 6

How is the amplitude of a wave represented on a graph?

Answer 6

Question 7

What is the frequency of a wave?

Answer 7

The number of waves produced each second by a source, or the number passing a particular point each second.

Question 8

What is a wavefront?

Answer 8

It is a line where all the vibrations are in phase and the same direction from the source.

Question 9

What is wavelength?

Answer 9

The distance between a particular point on a wave and the same point on the next wave (crest to crest).

Question 10

What is the time period of a wave?

Answer 10

The time it takes for a source to produce one wave.

Question 11

What do waves transfer?

Answer 11

Energy and information without transferring matter.

Question 12

What is the equation used to find the frequency of a wave?

Answer 12

Frequency = 1/T

Question 13

What are the units used in the formula to find the frequency of a wave?

Answer 13

Hz = 1/s

Question 14

What is the equation for wave speed (abbreviated)?

Answer 14

V = f x λ

Question 15

What is the equation for wave speed full?

Answer 15

Wave speed = frequency x wavelength

Question 16

What are the units used in the formula for wave speed?

Answer 16

m/s = Hz x m

Question 17

How can we study the behaviour of water?

Answer 17

Using a ripple tank.

Question 18

What are the steps that show how a ripple tank works?

Answer 18

• When the motor is turned on, the wooden bar vibrates creating a series of ripples or wavefronts on the surface of the water.
• A light placed above the tank creates patterns of the water waves on the floor.
• By observing the patterns we can see how the water waves are behaving.

Question 19

What happens to the wavelengths when there are higher frequencies?

Answer 19

The waves have shorter wavelengths - the speed of the wave doesn’t change.

Question 20

What kind of waves reflect and refract?

Answer 20

All kinds of waves.

Question 21

How do we hear the siren from a car when everything involved is stationary?

Answer 21

The sound waves that we hear are a series of equally (evenly) spaced wavefronts. This means that people in front of the car can hear sound of the same frequency and wavelength.

Question 22

How do we hear the siren from a car when it is moving?

Answer 22

The wavefronts are no longer evenly spaced.

Question 23

What happens to the wavefronts at the front of the moving car?

Answer 23

They will be compressed due to the fact that the car is moving in this direction, so the person at the front of the car will hear the siren as higher pitched.

Question 24

What happens to the wavefronts at the back of the moving car?

Answer 24

The waves are stretched out so the person at the back hears the sound with a longer wavelength and a lower frequency, so the pitch for them will have appeared to have decreased.

Question 25

What is the Doppler effect?

Answer 25

The changes in frequency of any kind of sound or light wave produced by a moving source with respect to an observer.

Question 26

What kind of wave has a property of the Doppler effect?

Answer 26

All waves.

Question 27

How do you draw a diagram of the waves being emitted from a siren when from a stationary car?

Answer 27

Question 28

How do you draw a diagram of the waves being emitted from a siren when from a moving car?

Answer 28