chapter 6 Flashcards
when does superposition happen?
when two or more waves pass through each other
what does the principle of superposition say?
that when two or more waves cross, the resultant displacement equals the vector sum of the individual displacements
what is constructive interference?
where two crests meet and two troughs meet. The resultant wave will be twice as big as the original if the first two waves are the same
what is destructive interference?
where a crest and a trough meet of equal size they cancel each other out completely
what happens if the crest and trough aren’t the same size?
then the destructive interference isn’t total. for the interference to be noticeable, the two amplitudes should be nearly equal
what can you use to show superposition and what are they?
phasors which a little rotating arrows to represent the phase of each point on a wave. The phasor rotates anticlockwise through one whole turn as the wave completes a full cycle
what does the length of the arrow show?
the amplitude of the wave
how can you find the resultant at time t?
add the phasors tip to tail.
what does in phase mean?
two points on a wave are in phase if they are both at the same point in the wave cycle
what is one complete cycle of a wave shown as?
as an angle of 360 degrees of 2pi radians
points that have a phase difference of 0 of a multiple of 360 degrees are what?
in phase- their phasors point in the same direction
point with a phase difference of odd-number multiples of 180 degrees or pi radians are what?
exactly out of phase, called antiphase. their phasors point in opposite directions.
when can two different waves be in phase?
because both waves came from the same oscillator
how do you get clear interference patterns?
the two sources must be coherent
what does coherent mean?
two sources are coherent if they have the same wavelength and frequency and a fixed phase difference between them
what does constructive or destructive interference depend on?
path difference- the amount by which the path travelled by one wave is longer than the path travelled by the other wave
when will you get constructive interference? (path difference)
at any point an equal distance from both sources or where the path difference is a whole number of wavelengths. at these points the two waves are in phase and reinforce each other.
when will you get destructive interference? (path difference)
where the path difference is half a wavelength, one and a half wavelengths, 2 and a half wavelengths etc, the waves arrive out of phase
constructive interference occurs when:
path difference= n x wavelength (where n is an integer)
destructive interference occurs when:
path difference= ((2n + 1 ) x wavelength) /2 = (n+0.5)x wavelength
define a standing wave
a standing wave is the superposition of two progressive waves with the same wavelength, moving in opposite directions
unlike progressive waves what isn’t transmitted by a standing wave?
energy
how can yo demonstrate standing waves?
by setting up a driving oscillator at one end of a stretched string with the other end fixed. The wave generated by the oscillator is reflected back and forth.
when won’t the resultant pattern be a jumble?
if the oscillator happens to produce an exact number of waves in the time it takes for a wave to get to the end and back again, then the original and reflected waves reinforce each other
what happens for ‘resonant frequencies’?
you get a standing wave where the pattern doesn’t move
what do standing waves in strings form?
oscillating ‘loops’ separated by nodes