Understanding Waves and Their Properties

Study Notes

Waves transfer energy from one place to another without transferring matter.
Energy transferred by waves can be interpreted as meaningful information, enabling the brain to build up images and tunes from light and sounds.
Waves vibrate or oscillate to travel from one place to another, as shown in a displacement-distance graph.
Displacement-distance graph shows the distance traveled from the starting point and the displacement from the equilibrium point.
Maximum displacement is known as the amplitude, and the distance of one entire oscillation is called the wavelength.
Wavelength can be measured from equilibrium to equilibrium or from crest to crest.
Displacement-time graph shows the same information but with time on the x-axis, and the length of one complete oscillation is the time period.
Time period is the time taken for one complete oscillation, and it can be used to calculate frequency.
Frequency is measured in hertz and is the number of complete oscillations per second.
Frequency can be calculated using the equation frequency = 1 / time period.
Time period can be calculated using the equation time period = 1 / frequency.
Wave speed can be calculated by multiplying the wavelength by the frequency, giving the total distance traveled per second.
Wave speed equation is wave speed = wavelength x frequency.
Transverse waves have oscillations perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer, including electromagnetic waves, ripples, and waves on strings.
Longitudinal waves have oscillations parallel to the direction of energy transfer, including sound waves and seismic p-waves.
Longitudinal waves have regions of compression and rarefaction due to the parallel oscillations.