Wave Properties Flashcards
What does it mean if 2 waves are in phase?
That crest meets crest or trough meets trough
How do you know if 2 waves are completely out of phase?
Crest meets trough
What does it mean for waves to be coherent?
Waves are coherent if they have the same speed, frequency, wavelength and have a constant phase relationship
If 2 speakers are in seperate sides of a room and you walked across the back of that room what would you hear? And why?
You would notice areas where the sound was loud and quiet or silent successively due to interference the loud zones are due to constructive interference and the quiet zones due to destructive interference
What is maxima?
Constructive interference, when 2 waves that are in phase with each other combing to produce a sound larger than just one wave
What is minima?
Destructive interference, when 2 waves that are exactly out of phase meet and cancel each other out producing points of silence.
What produces interference?
Waves
What is path difference?
The difference in distance from one source point in the interference pattern and distance from the other source to the point.
What would the path difference have to be at a maximum?
Zero or A whole number of wavelengths
What would the path difference have to be at a minimum?
A half number
What is the central maximum in an interference pattern referred to as?
m=0, as the path difference from both sources to a central maximum must be the same
What is important to remember when doing grating questions?
To convert the distance of the slits into m (typically from mm by 1/___)
When does diffraction take place?
When waves pass an edge or through a narrow gap or aperture (such as a grating)
What is interference?
A series of maxima and minima produced when waves meet
Name the type of interference that headphones use to reduce the sound level?
Destructive interference
