Gwhyneth DG.

Eliscupidez
Self-reflection:

The past couple of months I can honestly say that I learned something in physics although there is a lot to
take in and there lots of activities. I enjoyed the group activities. the activities really does need cooperation and mind.
All of the things we do are related to the lesson. I will always remember the activity which we build a house using only
tape, yarn and newspapers.
This quarter we tackled almost all about waves, but before entering the Physics two, we reviewed about our
Physics One. The things I remember about Physics are that it is the fundamental of all sciences. Physics is
everywhere the seen and unseen. Physics have branches; some branches are Optics, Mechanics, Biophysics,
Thermodynamics, Geophysics, Astrophysics and Nuclear Physics. In Physics Two we are concern about Sounds and
Optics.
In entering the real lessons we should learn about waves, its types, behavior, parts and the laws concerning
it. From what I understand, a wave is rhythmic disturbance that transfers energy through matter or space. A wave
carries energy without transferring matter from one place to another. There are many types of waves; we have the
electromagnetic waves and mechanical waves. Waves are all around us, from the sounds we hear, the wave of the
relaxing ocean to the dangerous earthquake. Gamma rays, X-rays, Ultraviolet Rays, Microwave, Infrared and
radiation, those are waves.
In a Transverse wave, matter moves in the medium back and forth perpendicularly to the direction that the
wave travels. In Longitudinal waves, matter moves in the medium parallel to the direction of the wave. There are five
wave terms, the frequency, period, amplitude, wavelength and speed. Frequency (f) is the number of waves
produced in a given point in each second (Hertz=

). Period (t) is the time needed to produce a wave in a given

point. Amplitude (a) is the height of the wave. Wavelength is the distance between two successive compressed
parts. The wave speed or depends on the properties of the medium. The properties are; elasticity,
temperature and density. Elasticity is directly related to speed. The density is inversely proportional to speed while
temperature is directly proportional to speed. There are different ways in determining the speed of transverse wave.
Different medium have different formula. There are three different mediums, the vibrating string, the liquid and lastly
the gas.
Electromagnetic waves are like other kinds of waves are caused by vibrations. These waves are produced
by the vibrations of electric charges in atoms. The energy in electromagnetic wave is made up of electric and
magnetic fields that vibrate at right angles to each other. The wavelength is usually in stated in nanometers. Longer
wavelengths correspond to lower frequency radiation and shorter wavelengths correspond to higher frequency
radiation. One way of measuring an electromagnetic wave is by measuring its frequency. Radio waves have the
longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. Since these are the longest waves, they have lowest energy
and are associated with the lowest temperature. Microwaves have shorter wavelengths than radio waves that they
are easily absorbed by water. Microwaves are good for transmitting information from one place to another.
Behavior of waves is easy; I understand the concept thanks to the activities that helped me. Before physics I
didnt know that there are scientific explanations about those things. A wave reflects, refracts and diffracts. Before we
learn about the three, we were introduced with some terms that will be essential in our study. Those are normal,
wave front, ray, and incident. Normal is an imaginary line. The wave front is the actual wave. the ray is a vector arrow
that is drawn perpendicularly to the wave front. It is the direction of the wave. the incident is very important, it is the
incoming wave. Reflection exists when a wave reaches a boundary of a medium and it bounces back. We have a law
in reflection that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. Refraction is being observed when a wave
passes from one medium to another. The boundary changes the speed and the direction of the wave. Refraction is
the reason why the pencil looks thicker in water. If the refracted wave is towards the normal, it slows down.
Diffraction is like refraction, the only difference is it was done with an opening or a slit. We have different wave
interaction; the constructive, two positive amplitude, and the destructive has one positive and one negative
amplitude. We have the Fixed end where the wavelength is the same, speed is the same, amplitude is the same and
the position is opposite. Another is Free end, where the wavelength, speed, amplitude and position is all the same.
Last is the change in medium, it is divided into two parts; reflected and transmitted. In reflected the wavelength,
speed and amplitude is all the same but the position is opposite. In the other hand, the transmitted waves
wavelength is shorter, the speed is slower, the amplitude is shorter and the position is the same.
Standing waves are produced when two waves with the same frequency interfere with one another while
travelling in opposite directions along the same medium. It is called because it appears to stand frozen in space.
Standing waves are responsible in the formation of sound in sound sources such as vocal chords and musical
instruments. They are produced whenever a wave is confined in boundaries. There are many parts of Standing wave.
the points, sometimes, described as point of no displacement are referred as Nodes.
The point that undergo the maximum displacement during each vibrational cycle of the standing wave are
called Antinodes. We also learned harmonics and modes. The nth harmonic has frequency

We should always remember that the first harmonic is the fundamental tone, the second harmonic is the first
overtone, the third harmonic is the second overtone and so on.
The index of reflection (n) of a material is a dimensionless constant obtained by dividing the speed of light in
a vacuum by the speed of light in a material and has a formula, n=c/v. The index of refraction is always greater than
1. The law of reflection states that the incident, reflected, and refracted rays and the normal to the surface all lie in
the same plane. Also, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence for all wavelength and for any pair of
materials.
Optics is the branch of physics which deals with the behavior of light and other electromagnetic waves. This
is divided into two. These are geometric optics which is the branch of optics representing waves in terms of rays.
Another one is physical optics which is a branch of optics dealing specifically with wave behavior. Light is a form of
energy visible to the human eye that is radiated by moving charged. Light travels in a straight line at a speed of
186,000 miles/s or 3x10
8
m/s. The real nature of light is dualistic which means it can be a particle or a wave. If the
energy comes from heat, then the source is called incandescent. If the energy comes from another source such as
chemical or electric energy, the source is called luminescent. The machine that produces an artificial electron is
called synchrotron. A particle of light is called photon has energy E that is related to the wavelength and the
frequency of the light wave by the Einstein equation. E=hf=hc/, where c is the speed of light and h is another
universal constant called Plancks constant. Light waves are three dimensional.
Plane mirrors are polished, flat surfaced that reflects light. It has two parts the silver and the mirror. Plane
mirrors. . Mirrors produce images by reflecting light. Image location is the location in space where all the reflected
light appears to diverge from. . Virtual images are images which are formed in locations where light does not actually
reach. Light does not actually pass through the location on the other side of the mirror; it only appears to an observer
as though the light is coming from this location. Real images are formed by curved mirrors. When rays reflected by a
mirror or refracted by a lens intersect, the image formed is real image. For flat mirrors the Law of Plane Mirrors states
that "the image is always the same distance behind the mirror as the object is in front of the mirror." The image,
I, and the object, O, are always line up along the same normal. The image is upright, but left-right reversed. A
spherical mirror is a mirror which has the shape of a piece cut out of a spherical surface. There are two types of
spherical mirrors: concave, and convex. We have the mirror formulae; 1/p + 1/q = 1/f , f= R/2 where; p is the objects
distance, q is the images distance, f is the focal length and r is the radius of curvatance.
I learned a lot of things about physics. I hope there is much to learn in physics. I also hope that I can pass
the periodical test, thank you for the effort that our industrious teacher gave us.