3 Properties in waves Flashcards
What is a transverse wave?
It is a wave the oscillates at right angles to the direction in which the energy or wave is moving.
What is a longitudinal wave?
It is a wave which oscillates along the direction in which the energy or wave is moving.
What happens if the source of a wave vibrates quickly?
It will produce a large number of waves each second.
What is an oscillation?
Going back in forth repeatedly between two positions or states.
What is amplitude?
The maximum movement of particles from their resting or equilibrium position is called its amplitude.
How is the amplitude of a wave represented on a graph?
What is the frequency of a wave?
The number of waves produced each second by a source, or the number passing a particular point each second.
What is a wavefront?
It is a line where all the vibrations are in phase and the same direction from the source.
What is wavelength?
The distance between a particular point on a wave and the same point on the next wave (crest to crest).
What is the time period of a wave?
The time it takes for a source to produce one wave.
What do waves transfer?
Energy and information without transferring matter.
What is the equation used to find the frequency of a wave?
Frequency = 1/T
What are the units used in the formula to find the frequency of a wave?
Hz = 1/s
What is the equation for wave speed (abbreviated)?
V = f x λ
What is the equation for wave speed full?
Wave speed = frequency x wavelength
What are the units used in the formula for wave speed?
m/s = Hz x m
How can we study the behaviour of water?
Using a ripple tank.
What are the steps that show how a ripple tank works?
- 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.
What happens to the wavelengths when there are higher frequencies?
The waves have shorter wavelengths - the speed of the wave doesn’t change.
What kind of waves reflect and refract?
All kinds of waves.
How do we hear the siren from a car when everything involved is stationary?
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.
How do we hear the siren from a car when it is moving?
The wavefronts are no longer evenly spaced.
What happens to the wavefronts at the front of the moving car?
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.
What happens to the wavefronts at the back of the moving car?
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.
What is the Doppler effect?
The changes in frequency of any kind of sound or light wave produced by a moving source with respect to an observer.
What kind of wave has a property of the Doppler effect?
All waves.
How do you draw a diagram of the waves being emitted from a siren when from a stationary car?
How do you draw a diagram of the waves being emitted from a siren when from a moving car?
