THE PROPERTIES OF WAVES Flashcards
how do you find out how much energy or information waves carry?
you need to measure them
where are the crests/peaks of a wave?
at the top of the wave
where are the troughs of a wave?
at the bottom of the wave
the spacing of crests and troughs are
equally spaced
what is the amplitude?
the maximum displacement of a point on the wave from its undistributed position
-the height of the wave crest from the middle
the bigger the amplitude of the waves
the more energy the waves carry
what is the wavelength?
the distance from a point on the wave to the equivalent point on the adjacent wave
-the distance from one wave crest to another
what is the frequency of a wave?
the number of waves passing a fixed point every second
the unit of frequency
hertz (Hz)
what is the period of a wave?
the time taken for each wave to pass a fixed point
period, T (seconds,s) =
1 / frequency, f (hertz, Hz)
what is the speed of waves?
the distance traveled by each wave every second through a medium
-energy is transferred by the waves at this speed
wave speed, v (metres per second,m/s) =
frequency (Hz) x wavelength, λ (m)
speed =
distance / time
