Preliminary physics

The world communicates

1.
Describe the energy transformations required in one of the following
mobile phone, fax/modem, radio and teleision
!obile phone
"ound energy
Describe waes as a transfer of energy disturbance that may occur
in one, two in three dimensions, depending on the nature of the
wae and the medium
#aes are transfer of energy that may occur in one, two or three
dimensions. Di$erent waes can trael in di$erent number of dimensions.
% longitudinal wae is one dimensional. % transerse and water wae is
two dimensional. "ound and electromagnetic waes are three
dimensional.
&dentify that mechanical waes require a medium to propagate while
electromagnetic waes do not
!echanical waes require a medium to propagate.
'lectromagnetic waes do not require a medium to propagate.
De(ne and apply the following terms to the wae model) medium,
displacement, amplitude, period, compression, rarefaction, crest,
trough, transerse waes, longitudinal waes, frequency,
waelength, elocity
!edium material in which a wae is propagating
Displacement distance in which the waes moe the medium particles
from its equilibrium position
%mplitude the amplitude of a wae is the maximum displacement from
its rest position. *or a transerse wae, the amplitude is half the distance
between a crest and a trough measured perpendicular to the direction of
trael. The amplitude of a sound wae determines how loud the sound is
Period the period of a wae is the time that is required to do one
complete oscillation. &t is also the time for one waelength to pass a (xed
point in the medium.
+ompression ,ones where the particles are close together than in their
undisturbed state
-arefaction ,ones where the particles are spaced further apart than in
their undisturbed spaces
+rest highest points of a wae
Trough lowest points of a wae
Transerse waes wae in which the medium particle oscillates
perpendicular to the direction of propagation
.ongitudinal waes wae in which the medium particle oscillates parallel
to the direction of propagation
*requency the number of complete cycles that pass through a (xed
point per second. *requency is measured in cycles per seconds or /ert,
0/,1.
#aelength the waelength of a wae is the distance between two
identical points, e.g. two successie crests
2elocity the speed and the direction at which a wae traels through a
medium
Describe the relationship between particle motion and the direction
of energy propagation in transerse and longitudinal waes
&n longitudinal or compression waes, the medium moes bac3 and forth
parallel to the wae4s elocity.
#hen transerse waes trael through a medium, the medium moes
bac3 and forth perpendicular to the wae4s elocity.
5ualify the relationship between elocity, frequency and waelength
for a wae
#here T 6 period
f 6 frequency
#here 6 elocity
f 6 frequency
#aelength
7.8
&dentify that sound waes are ibrations or oscillations of particles in
a medium
"ound waes are longitudinal waes which require a medium for
propagation. The ariations of the particles results in pressure
ariations of the medium which then transfers the energy from the
source.
-elate compressions and rarefactions of sound waes to the crests
and troughs of transerse waes used to represent them
% rarefaction in a sound wae represents low pressure and is equal to the
trough in a transerse wae. % compression is the crest where it is high
pressure. +-9s represent sound waes as a transerse wae
'xplain qualitatiely that pitch is related to frequency and olume to
amplitude of sound waes
The pitch of a sound wae is determines by the sound4s frequency. The
higher the frequency, the higher the pitch of the noise is. The higher the
amplitude, the louder it is.
'xplain an echo as a re:ection of a sound wae
&f a sound wae is re:ected bac3 to its source, we call the re:ection an
echo.
%n important application of the re:ection of sound is sonar 0sound
naigation and ranging1, which is used in boats to determine water depth
and to detect underwater ob;ects, such as (sh or shar3.
%nother important application of sound re:ection is the use of ultrasound
imaging techniques in medicine. <ltrasound imaging inoles pulses of
high frequency sound waes being transmitted into the body and the
re:ections being analysed.
Describe the principle of superposition and compare the resulting
waes to the original waes in sound
"uperposition is when pulses or waes meet and their amplitudes are
added together. #hen two waes traelling at each other meet, they
oerlap one another, to obtain a resulting wae. To hae constructie or
destructie interferences, the wae must be in phase or out of phase.
7.=
Describe electromagnetic waes in terms of their speed in space
and their lac3 of requirement of a medium for propagation
%ll electromagnetic waes are transerse waes. They require no medium
to propagate because they set up an oscillating magnetic and (eld which
induce one another, so it traels without a medium. They trael at
approximately =.7 x m/s
&dentify the electromagnetic waebands (ltered out by the
atmosphere, especially <2 rays, > rays and gamma rays
<2, > rays and gamma rays are mainly (ltered out by the atmosphere.
They hae a short but are ery energetic, so they are dangerous waes.
9nly microwaes, radio waes and isible light are not (ltered out by the
atmosphere and reach the surface of the 'arth.
&dentify methods for the detection of arious waebands in the
electromagnetic spectrum
?amma rays detected by ?eiger counter and photographic (lm
>@rays detected by photographic (lm and :uorescent screen
<ltraiolet 0<21 light detected by photographic (lm, photo cells and
:uorescent chemicals
2isible light detected by the eyes, photographic (lm and photo cells
&nfrared detected by special photographic (lm, semiconductor deices
such as .D- and our s3in
-adio detected by aerials connected to tuned electric circuits in radio
and T2 sets
'xplain that the relationship between the intensity if
electromagnetic radiation and distance from a source is an example
of the inerse square law
The energy carried per second through an area of 1 square metre
perpendicular to the wae4s elocity is called the wae4s intensity. The
intensity of the wae is a measure of the energy carried by the wae
through the medium and is proportional to the square of the wae4s
amplitude.
The intensity is said to decrease inersely with the square of the distance
from the source
The disadantage of using electromagnetic waes for long distance
communications is that the signal decreases in strength. The intensity of
the signal aries inersely with the square of the distance.
9utline how the modulation of amplitude or frequency of isible
light, microwaes and/or radio waes can be used to transmit
information
To encode a signal onto an electromagnetic wae, you hae to modulate
the wae4s amplitude or modulate its frequency. % decoding deice or de@
modulator is used in the receier to extract the modulated wae from the
modulated carried signal.
!odulation is most common in *! and %! radios.
&n amplitude modulation 0%!1, the amplitudes of the audio and carrier
signals are added together.
&n frequency modulation 0*!1, the frequencies of the audio and carrier
signals are added together.
Discuss problems produced by the limited range of the
electromagnetic spectrum aailable for communication purposes
%nalyse information to identify the waes inoled in the transfer of
energy that occurs during the use of the following
o !obile phone
o Teleision
o -adar
!obile phone)
7A
Describe and apply the law of re:ection and explain the e$ect of
re:ection from a plane surface of waes
The law of re:ection of a wae)
The angle of incident equals to the angle of re:ection
The angle of incidence and the angle of re:ection are the angles between
the normal to the surface and the incident and re:ected rays respectiely.
They are on the same plane.
Describe ways in which applications of re:ection of light, radio
waes and microwaes hae assisted in information transfer
@ &onosphere the ionosphere consists of a mixture of ions and free
electrons called plasma, created by <2 rays from the sun. 2isible
light passes through the ionosphere by %! radio frequencies are
re:ected by the ionosphere. -adio waes bounce o$ the ionosphere.
The radio waes bounce towards the 'arth4s surface and bounce
again towards the ionosphere. &t helps transfer signals around the
globe because of the curature of the 'arth4s surface.
@ Parabolic concae re:ection from parabolic concae mirrors can be
used to produce parallel signals. "atellite dishes can be used as a
booster to boost up the intensity of the transmitting radio
electromagnetic waes by collecting wea3 intensity signals and
re:ecting them to the receier aerial at the centre of the dish.
Describe one application of re:ecting for each of the following)
o Plane surfaces
@ Dressing, shaing
o +oncae surfaces
@ Torches or can head light
o +onex surfaces
@ Driing mirrors it gies a wider (eld or iew but the image appears
to be smaller
@ !irrors used in shops because they proide a iew of a wider area
o -adio waes being re:ected by the ionosphere
@ The waes are re:ected by the ionosphere and collected by tuners
of teleisions and radios
'xplain that refraction is related to the elocities of a wae in
di$erent media and outline how this may result in the bending of a
wae front
De(ne refractie index in terms of changes in the elocity of a wae
in passing from one medium to another
The absolute refractie index for a material is a constant for any speci(c
material. Because the speed of light in a acuum is the fastest speed at
which light can trael, the absolute refractie index for any material is
always greater than one. The bigger the refractie index is, the smaller
the elocity in the medium.
De(ne "nell4s law
9utline how total internal re:ection is used in optical (bres
7C
&dentify types of communication data that are stored or transmitted
in digital form