Waves Flashcards
What happens when waves travel through a medium?
Particles of the medium oscillate and transfer energy between each other, overall the particles stay in the same place as only energy is transferred
What is the amplitude of a wave?
Maximum displacement of a point on the wave from its undisturbed position.
What is wavelength?
Distance between same point on two adjacent waves for example between trough of one wave on the trough of the wave next to it)
What is frequency?
Number of complete waves passing a certain point per second.
What is frequency measured in?
In Hertz Hz 1 Hz is one wave per second
From the freuqency what can you find?
The period of a wave. This is the amount of time it takes for a full cycle of the wave.
How to calculate the period of a wave.
T = 1/f t= period (s) F= frequency Hz
Describe a transverse wave
Oscillations (vibrations are perpendicula to direction of energy transfer
Give examples of transverse waves
1= all electromagnetic waves like light 2= ripples and waves in water 3= a wave on a string
On a graph what does amplitude look like?
From x axis to peak
On a graph what does wavelength look like?
Line between peaks
On a graph what does a crest look like?
The peak
On a graph what does undistrubed position look like?
A straight line
Give examples of mechanical waves
Water waves Shock waves Waves in springs ropes
Describe longitudinal waves
oscillations are parallel to direction of energy transfer.
Examples of longitudinal waves.
Sound waves in air like ultra sound shock waves likes some seismic waves
What is wave speed?
Speed at which energy is being transferred or the speed the wave moves at
Give the equation for wave speed
v = f x wavelength V= wavespeed in m/s F= hz Wavelength symbol upside down y = m
How to measure the speed of sound using an oscillioscope?
- Set up oscillioscope so the detected waves at each microphone are shon as seperate waves.
- Start with both microphones next to the speaker then slowly move one away until the two waves are aligned on the display but have moved on wavelength apart.
- Measure distance between microphones to find one wavelength.
- Use forumula v=fxwavlength to find speed of sound waves passing through air.
- The frequency is whatever you set signal generator to but around 1khz Speed of sound is around 330 m/s
How to measure the speed of water ripples through a lamp?
- Using a single generator attatched to the dipper of a ripple tank create water waves at a set frequency
- Use a lamp to see wave crests on a screen below the tank.
- Make sure size of waves shadows are the same size as the waves
- Dsitance between each shadow line is equal to one wavelength.
- Measure distance between shadow lines that are 10 wavelengths apart then divide distance by 10 to find average wavlength.
- If you struggle to measure distance take a photo fo shadows and ruler and find wavelength from photo
- use v=fλ to calculate waves speed of waves.
- This set up allows you to measure wavelenght without diturbing waves.
Describe experiment for how to use wave equation fro waves on strings.
- Turn on signal generator and vibration transducer.
- The string will start to vibrate
- Adjust frequency of signal generator until there is a clear wave on string.
- The frequency needed depends on length of string between pulley and transducer and the masses you have used.
- Measure wavelength of these waves
- To do this measure 4-5 half wavelenghts or as many as you can in one go, divide to get mean half wavelength then double this mean to get full wavelength.
- Frequency of wave is whatever the signal generator is set to.
- find wave speed with the formula v=fλ
When waves arrive at a boundary between two different materials what three things can happen?
- The waves are absorbed by the material the wave is trying to cross into this transfers energy to materials energy stores
- Waves are transmitted which means the waves carry on travelling through the new material.- this leads to refraction.
- Waves are reflected.
- Depends on wavelength of the wave and properties of materials involved.
What does the angle of incidence equal?
The angle of refelection
What is the angle of incidence?
Angle between the incoming wave and the normal
(to tell it is the incoming ray with the arrow going inwards)
What is the angle of reflection?
Angle between the reflected wave and the normal.
(to tell it is the angle with an arrow pointing outwards)
What is the normal?
An imaginary line that is perpendicular (at right angles) to the surface at the point of incidence (where the wave hits the boundary)
What is the point of incidence?
Point where the wave hits the boundary.
When does specular reflection happen?
Wave is reflected in a single direction by a smooth surface
eg: light is reflected by a mirror you get a clear reflection
What is diffuse reflection?
When a wave is reflected by a rough surface eg:lots of paper and the reflected rays are scattered in lots of different directions.
When does diffuse reflection happen?
The normal is different for each incoming ray so angle of incidence is different for each ray too.
The rule angle of incidence = angle of reflection still applies.
What happens when light is reflected by a rough surface?
Surface is matte not shiny and you don’t get a clear reflection of objects.
This is diffuse reflection.
What type fo wave are electromagnetic waves?
Transverse waves, transfer energy from a source to absorber.
eg: hot object transfers energy by emmiting infared radiation which is absorbed by surrounding air.
How do all EM waves travel?
At the same speed through air or a vaccum (space)
What do electromagnetic waves form?
A continuos spectrum over a range of frequencies
They are grouped in seven basic types based on wavelength and freqency
Name the seven waves in the continuos spectrum
Raw= radio waves
Meat= microwaves
Is= infra red
Very= visible light
Unsanitary= Ultra violet
eXcept = X-Rays
Giraffe= Gamma rays
From the continuos spectrum describe which wha has highest frequency amd what has the lowest.
Radio waves - Gamma rays is low to high frequency
Radio waves - Gamma rays is long wavelength to short wavelength
In the continuos spectrum why is there a large range of frequecnies?
EM waves are generated by a variety of changes in atoms and their nucleus.
this explains why atoms can absorb a range of frequencies so each one causes a change.
Why do EM waves have a lot of purposes?
Because they have a lot of different properties.
Define the term refraction.
When a wave crosses a boundary between materials at an angle and changes direction
What does how much a wave refract depend on?
How much the waves speeds up or slows down.
Depends on density of two materials the higher the density the slower a wave travels through it.
What happens if a wave crosses a boundary and slows down?
It bends towards the normal.
But if it crosses into a material and speeds up it bends away from the normal.
What happens to the wavelength of a wave when it refracts?
It changes, but the frequency stays the same.
What happens if the wave travels along the normal?
It does change speed but doesnt refract as it doesn’t change direction
What does the wave fronts being closer together show?
change in wavelength and a change in velocity
What is the optical density of a material?
Measure of how quickly light can travel through a material.
Higher optical density the slower light waves travel through it.
How to draw a ray diagram for a refracted light ray?
Draw boundary between two materials
Draw a normal line in middle
Draw the incident ray which meets the normal or if given draw it according
Now draw refracted ray on other side
Is second material is denser than first then refracted ray bends more to the normal so it is smaller than angle of incidence
If second material is less optically dense angle of refraction is larger than angle of incidence
When doing experiments with rays of light what conditions should the room be?
dim room so you can clearly see light rays
Both use ray box or lasers to produce thin ray of light so you can easily see middle of ray when tracing and measuring angles from it
How to use transparent materials to investigate refraction?
Boundaries between different substances refract light by different amounts
1= place transparent rectangular block on a piece of paper and trace around it.
2= use ray box or laser to shine a ray of light at middle of one side of the block
3= Trace incident ray and mark where light ray emerges on the other side of block
4= remove block and with straight line join incident ray and emerging point to show path of refracted ray through block.
5= draw normal at pont where light ray enter block
6= Use protactor to measure angle between incident ray and the normal
7= and angle betwen reflected ray and hte normal which is the angle of refraction
8= repeat experiment with rectangular blocks made of different material keeping incident angle same throughout.
Why does angle of refraction change for different materials?
Due to different optical densities
give the experiment for how light is reflected by different materials.
1= take a piece of paper and draw straight line across it
2= place an object so one of its sides lines up with the line you drew
3= Shine ray of light at object’s surface and trace incoming and reflected light beams
4= Draw normal at the point where ray hits the object
5= use a protractor to measure angle of incidence and angle of reflection and record values in table
6= Make note of width and brightness of reflected light ray
7= repeat experiment for range of objects
What do smooth surface like mirrors give?
Clear reflections
Reflected ray is as thin and bright as incident ray
What reflections do rough surfaces like paper cause?
Diffuse reflection
Casues reflected beam to be wider and dimmer or not observable
What are EM waves made up of?
Oscillating electric and magnetic field.
What are alternating current made up from
oscillating charges
As charge oscillates they produce oscillating electric and magnetic fields ie:electromagnetic waves
What is the frequency of waves produced equal to?
Frequency of the alternating current
How do you produce radio waves?
Alternating current in an electrical circuit.
Object in which electrons oscilliate to create the radio waves.
When transmitted radio waves reach a reciever the radio waves are absorbed
Energy carried by the waves is transferred to the electrons in the material of a reciever.
Energy causes electrons to oscilliate and if reciever is part of complete electrical circuit it generate ac
This current has same frequency as radio wave that generated it
What is a transmitter?
Object in which electrons oscilliate to create the radio waves.
What are radio waves?
EM radiation with wavelengths longer than 10cm
How long are long wave radios?
1-10km
transmitted from london and recieved half way around world.
Why can long wave radios be recieved from far distances?
They diffract (bend) around the curved surface of Earth.
They also diffract around hills into tunnels etc
Makes it possible radio signals to be recieved at long distances from transmitters
How long are short wave radio signals?
10m-100m
like long wave can be recieved at long distance from transmitter
As they are reflected from the ionsphere which is electrically charged layer of the earth upper athmoshphere.
What wave does bluetooth use?
Short wave radio waves
To send data over short distances between devices without wires so you can use phone whilst driving.
What are medium wave signals?
They reflect from ionsphere depending on athmosheric conditions at the time of day.
What radio waves are used in TV and FM radio?
short wavelenghts.
To get reception must be in direct sight of transmitter, signal does not bend or travel through buildings.
What does communication to and from satelites use?
Microwaves which can easily pass through earths watery athmosphere
How does a satellite TV work?
- Signal from transmitter is transmitted to space
- Picked up by satallite reciever dish orbiting thousands of km above Earth.
- Satellite transmits signal back to Eath in a different direction.
- Where it is received by satellite dish on ground
- Slight time delay between signal sent and recieved as long distance it needs to travel
In communication what do the microwaves need to pass through?
The Earths watery athmosphere
In microwave ovens what do microwaves need to be absorbed by?
- Water molecules in food. So they use different wavelength to those used in satellite communications.
- Microwaves penetrate up to a few cm into the food being absorbed and transferring the energy they are carrying to water molecules in food causing water to heat up.
- Water molecules then transfer this energy to rest of molecules in food by heating which cooks food quickly
What is infared radiation?
it is given out by all hot objects and the hotter the object the more infared radiation it gives out
What are infared cameras for?
Detect infared radiation and monitor temperature.
How do infared cameras work?
camera detects IR radiation turns it into an electrical signal, which is displayed on as a screen as a picture.
The hotter an object is the brighter it appears.
What causes objects to become hotter?
Absorbing IR radiation
What can be cooked using Infrared Radiation
Food, temp of food increases when absorbs IR
eg:toasters heating elements
How do electric heaters heat a room?
- long peice of wire that heats up when current flows through it
- Wire emits lots of infrared radiation an visible light as wire glows
- Emmited IR radiation absorbed by objects and air in room
- Energy transferrred by IR waves to thermal energy stores of objects cause temp to increase