Comment

Topic

Waves I

Estimated reading: 2 minutes 100 views

Waves I: Introduction

– A wave is simply a disturbance that moves through a medium. Other waves do not require a medium to travel i.e. they can travel in a vacuum, are known as electromagnetic waves e.g. radio, X-rays, gamma rays UV rays etc.
– Other waves require a material medium to be transferred and are called mechanical waves i.e. water, sound waves etc.

Transverse and Longitudinal Pulses and Waves

1. Transverse waves

– They consist of a crest and a trough.
– In this case the displacement of the medium caused by these pulses are perpendicular to the direction in which the wave (disturbance) travels.
– A pulse is a single non-repeated disturbance.
– If the pulses are repeated periodically (regularly) they produce a series of waves called periodic transverse wave train.
– They can be produced as shown below.

Furniture From Wood - Geography Form Two

2. Longitudinal waves

– These are waves whereby the particles of the medium vibrate parallel to the direction of movement of the disturbance.
– When several turns of a spring are pulled together (compression) and then released they tend to spread out to their original position.
– When pulled apart (rarefaction) they also turn to their original position.
– In this case the displacement of the spring is parallel to the motion of the wave and this is known as longitudinal.

Furniture From Wood - Geography Form Two

Characteristics of waves

  1. All waves have speed which depends on the nature of disturbance.
  2. All waves have wavelength (distance between two successive points in a wave). Represented by the symbol λ and is measured in metres.
  3. All waves have frequency – ‘ f ‘ which is the number of waves passing a point in one second. It is measured in cycles per second or hertz (Hz). The period of a wave is the time required for a complete wave to pass a given point.
    Therefore T = 1 / f or f = 1 / T (period is measured in seconds).
    The speed ‘v’ is given as: v = λ / T, since f = 1 / T then v = (1 / T) x λ = f λ or v = f λ. This is the wave equation.
  4. All waves have amplitude which is the maximum displacement of the particles of the medium as the wave passes.

Leave a Comment

Share this Doc

Waves I

Or copy link

CONTENTS

Translation And Interpretation | English Form 5 & 6

Translation is a process by which ideas that are written in one language ar...

Writing Skills | English Form 5 & 6

Are the abilities that allow you to write effectively and concisely. A competent...

Reading Skills | English Form 5 & 6

Reading is the process of going through written information or piece of wor...

Speaking Skills | English Form 5 & 6

What is Speaking? SPEAKING SKILLS: Speaking is simply the act of talking wh...

Listening Skills | English Form 5 & 6

Listening is ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communi...

Word Formation | English Form 5 & 6

This is the field or branch of morphology which studies different principles or ...

Introduction To Language | English Form 5 & 6

Language is a symbol system based on pure or arbitrary  conventions…...

Topic

Form Five and Form Six

Ecology

Ecology is the study of the interactions between living things, such as humans, ...

Evolution

EVOLUTION Evolution is  a change in the genetic composition of a population...

Genetics

Genetics is the study of heredity and variationHeredity- is the passage of chara...

Chat Icon Close Icon

Subscribe

×
Cancel