P2: Waves Flashcards
What are the two types of waves?
Transverse or longitudinal.
How do the particles vibrate in transverse waves?
The particles vibrate at right angles (90°) to the direction of energy transfer.
What are the vibrations in waves known as?
Oscillations.
State some examples of transverse waves.
Water waves, electromagnetic spectrum waves, secondary waves.
Describe the vibration of particles in a longitudinal wave.
The particles vibrate in parallel with the direction of energy transfer.
What are the two types of periods that the longitudinal wave travels through?
Compression and rarefaction
State some examples of longitudinal waves.
Sound waves and seismic primary waves.
What is amplitude?
The maximum displacement of a point on the wave of the undisturbed position.
What is wavelength?
The distance from a point on one wave to the same point on the next. (Crest to crest)
What is frequency?
The number of waves that pass a point each second.
What is the period?
The time is takes for one complete wave oscillation.
What is the equation for wave speed?
Wavespeed = frequency x wavelength.
How can you measure the speed of sound waves?
Using two microphones connected to a computer. Measure the distance between the two, then make a sound. The computer calculates the time is takes for the sound wave to travel from the first microphone to the second.
What can you use to measure the speed of water ripples?
A ripple tank and a light.
What happens when a wave meets a boundary between two different materials?
The wave is either absorbed, transmitted or reflected.
What happens when a wave is absorbed?
Its energy is transferred.
What happens when a wave is transmitted?
It carries on travelling through the material.
What happens when a ray is reflected?
It travels back.
Why can’t sound waves travel through a vacuum?
Because there are no particles to vibrate.
Name the two types of reflection
Specular and diffuse.
What name is given to a reflection from a smooth surface?
Specular reflection.
What name is given to reflection from a rough surface?
Diffuse reflection
What is the correlation between the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection?
They are equal
A light ray travels through air, then a glass block, then air again. Refraction has not occurred. Why?
The incident ray of the light is along the normal (the ray is perpendicular to the glass surface - but do not remember it this way)