Waves Flashcards
what are the types of waves
- tranverse
-longitudinal
what is a longitudinal wave
- a wave that oscillated side to side parallel to the direction of energy transfer
what are examples of longitudinal waves
- sound waves
- ultra sound waves
- p - waves
all longitudinal wave require a ——— to travel in eg air,liquid, solid
a medium
what does a longitudinal wave look like
has compressions and rarefactions
what is evidence that it is the wave that transfers energy for both longitudinal and transverse
what is a transverse wave
a wave that moves upwards and downwards and oscillates perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer
give examples of transverse waves
- ripples on the surface of water
- electromagnetic waves
- seismic s-waves
what are some differences between transverse and longitudinal waves
longitudinal waves: particles move parallel to the wave direction,BUT transverse waves particles move perpendicular to the wave.
- Longitudinal waves can travel through solids, liquids, and gases, while transverse waves typically travel through solids and on the surface of the liquids.
what is the wavelength of a wave
- the distance from a point on the wave to the equivalent point on the adjacent wave
what is the amplitude of a wave
the maximum displacement of a point on the wave away from it’s undisturbed position
what is the frequency of a wave
the number of waves passing a point each second
what is the period of a wave
the time taken for one wave to pass a point
how is the period measured
period (s) = 1/frequency(Hz)
what is the definition of wave speed
the speed at which the energy is transferred through the medium
describe a method to measure the speed of sound in air
- separate two people with a distance of 500 metres
- person A is holding the cymbals and person B is holding a timer
- person B will start timing when she sees person A clash the cymbals
-person B then stops the timer when she first hears the sound of the cymbals crashing - then calculate the speed of the sound waves by dividing the distance travelled / time taken
how is wave speed calculated
wave speed (m/s)= frequency ( Hz ) x wavelength (m)
what is the problems with the speed of sound experiment
- every person has a different reaction time ( it takes a fraction of a second to see the cymbals crash and press the timer )
BUT we can reduce the problem by having a large group of observers with timers - we can then collect their results and discard anomalies and calculate a mean
-second problem:
the time it tskes for the person to see the cymbals crash and hear the sound is very small
BUT to reduce this problem increase the distance between person A and person b ( the larger the distance the longer the time = makes it easier to start/stop the timer at the correct times
describe a method to measure the speed of ripples on a water surface. ( ripple tank. )
equipment :
need a tank ( ripple tank ) , water, a stopwatch and a ruler , vibrating bar - the vibrating bar is connected to a power pack
when the bar vibrates it produces waves on the surface of the water
above the ripple tank there is a lamp and below the tank is a white sheet of paper
when light shines through the water it produces the image of the waves on the paper
easiest way to obtain the data is by usnig phone as you can play back recording at different speeds or to freeze the image
how to measure the wavelength in the ripple experiment
place a ruler on the paper then. freeze the image of the waves - now measure the distance between one wave and ten waves further ( 10 wavelengths ) suppose the distance between the 1 wavelength and the 10th wavelength is 26cm (0.26m ) the value of one wavelength will be 0.026
how to calculate the frequency of the ripple tank experiment
place a timer next to the paper and count how many waves pass a point in one second - bit hard so it is more accurate to count the number of waves in 10 seconds and then divide it by 10 (. easier to record this on phone to watch in slow motion ) REMEMBER YOU NEED TO RECORD THE TIMER AS WELL AS THE WAVE
start the timer and calculate how many waves passed in 10 seconds divide your value by 10 to find the number of waves in 1 second
use the wave speed equation to determine the speed of the ripples
( multiply your value for frequency x wavelength ( 0.26 )
describe a method to measure the wavelength, frequency and speed of the waves in a solid
equipment :
string, wooden bridge, vibration generator, pulley on clamp, mass block, to signal generator
a string is attached on one end attached to a vibration generator - at the other end of the string there is a hanging mass ( the mass keeps the string taut ) - the vibration generator is attached to a signal generator - the signal generator allows us to change the frequency of the vibration of the string
when the power is turned on the string vibrates at a certain frequency a standing wave created due to resonance
now measure the wavelength of the standing wave to do that use a ruler - you need to calculate the total length of the standing wave from the wooden bridge to the vibration generator
using the wave speed equation and the value for the wavelength we can find the speed of the wave - wave speed = frequency x wavelength we read the frequency from the signal generator and the vlaue for the wavelength has already been calculate by using the ruler.
how do you calculate the wavelength of a standing wave
divide the total length by the number of half wavelengths and multiply by 2
what is rarefaction
the bending of light rays as they pass from one medium to another