Wave Motion

A wave is a traveling disturbance in a material

(medium).
The shape of the disturbance remains the same
as the wave travels
Individual particles in the material oscillate in
place as the wave moves past them.

To make a wave
Need:
a medium that can be disturbed
an external force or disturbance to start the
wave moving
some kind of connection between the particles
of the medium, so they push and pull each other

Example: In a wave on a string, the

strings tension causes parts of the string
to pull on each other
This is a wave pulse.
It travels to the right with a
definite speed
We find that the speed
depends on the tension
and weight of the string

Shake up and down repeatedly, and you get a

transverse wave in which the parts of the
string vibrate up and down, but the wave
moves to the right.

http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/wave-on-a-string/wave-on-astring_en.html

Second example: The neighboring parts of a

long spring can push or pull each other due to
the springs elastic force
This is a traveling disturbance too,
though the vibrations are along the
direction of motion

Longitudinal Wave

Describing Waves
Here is a snapshot of a wave (the position of the
string, e.g.) at two different times:
Red: t = 0
Blue: a later time t

Crest
Trough

Wave Terms
FREQUENCY: (f) how fast the
source vibrates up and down
(cycles/second = Hz)
all portions of the string
vibrate with the same frequency
AMPLITUDE: (A) how far the
vibrating portion moves from
equilibrium
if the string is uniform, all
parts have the same amplitude
too
WAVELENGTH: () distance
between adjacent peaks

Note that in one period, each

wave peak has moved forward
by one wavelength!

1
v=
=
= f
T
T
This is the most
fundamental equation
describing waves

Snapshot of a wave (at an instant in time):

y(x) = A cos

2x

Graphing two sinusoidal curves: one is displaced relative to

the other, expressed by replacing (x) with (x constant).

y1 (x) = A cos

y2 (x) = A cos

2x

2(x

The wave moves forward a distance vt intime t, so

2

y(x, t) = A cos
= A cos
= A cos

(x

2x

2x

vt) +

2vt

2f t +

0.4)

The wave speed depends only on the

medium itself
The external disturbance (e.g. you shaking the
string) controls the frequency and amplitude
The wave speed depends on the medium
(e.g. tension and weight of string, or density and
pressure of air)
The wavelength is then fixed by f and v.

For a string:

v=

T
where = M/L

A more general wave equation shows that:

The speed is independent of pulse shape
Any function that depends only on the
quantity (xvt) can describe a traveling wave

In general, the speed of any

wave depends on:

Increase tension: increase speed

Increase mass: decrease speed

elastic property
inertial property

Two strings, one thick and the other thin, are connected
to form one long string. A wave travels along the string
and passes the point where the two strings are
connected. Which of the following change(s) at that point:
A. frequency
B. period
C. wave speed
D. wavelength

You can think of waves as made of

energy
When I wiggle one end of the string, eventually the
other end moves up and down: it has kinetic
energy, potential energy, and momentum
The wave therefore carries energy and momentum
from one place to another
One can calculate that (see p. 495-496) the energy transmitted per
unit time (the power) in a sinusoidal wave on a string is given by

1 2 2
P = ! A v
2

All waves have power proportional to f 2, A2, and v. For a 3D wave,

the power flow per unit area is called the intensity.