Wave Motion

A wave is a rhythmic (periodic) disturbance that transports

energy through matter or space. Mechanical waves travel
through a medium. The medium is the matter through
which a wave transfers energy.
Ocean waves carry energy
through water.
Earthquakes carry energy
through the Earth.
Sound waves carry sound
through solid, liquid or gaseous
materials.
Light waves carry light through
a space.

Slinky Wave
Lets use a slinky wave as an example.
When the slinky is stretched from end to
end and is held at rest, it assumes a
natural position known as the equilibrium
or rest position.
To introduce a wave we must first create a
disturbance.
We must move a particle away from its
rest position.

Slinky Wave
One way to do this is to jerk the slinky to the
side.
The beginning of the slinky moves away from its
equilibrium position and then back.
The disturbance continues down the slinky.
This disturbance that moves down the slinky is
called a pulse.
If we keep pulsing the slinky back and forth, we
could get a repeating disturbance.

Wave Types
Transverse waves the wave travels
perpendicular to the motion of the medium. The
direction of the wave is the direction of energy
transfer.

Earthquake wave

Wave Types
Longitudinal waves the wave travels parallel to
the motion of the medium. The direction of the
wave and medium is the direction of energy
transfer.

Sound wave

Transverse Waves
The differences between the two can be
seen

Wave Characteristics
Longitudinal Waves:
Compression- place on a
longitudinal wave where
particles of matter are closest
together.
Rarefaction- place on a
longitudinal wave where
particles of matter are farthest
apart.
Transverse Waves:
High points are called crests.
Low points are called troughs.

Wave Characteristics
For all wave types:
Wavelength is the distance
between a point on one wave and
the identical point on the next
wave (crest to crest, trough to
trough, and compression to
compression).
Amplitude is the distance from
the crest (or trough or
compression) to the rest position
or the medium. The amplitude
corresponds to the amount of
energy carried by the wave. The
greater the energy the larger the
amplitude.
Frequency is the number of
wave crests (or compressions)
that pass one point each second.
Frequency is expressed in units
of Hertz (Hz). One hertz is the

Wave Velocity
Wave velocity is how fast the wave travels
through the medium. (Not the speed of
the particles, speed the crests move.)

Wave velocity = frequency x

wavelength

v f

v = velocity of the wave (m/s)

f = frequency (Hz or 1/s)
= wavelength (m)

Wave Velocity
Example 1: A wave is measured to have a
frequency of 60Hz. If its wavelength is 24cm,
determine how fast it is moving.

Example 2: The speed of light is always 3.00x108

m/s. Determine the frequency of red light which
has a wavelength of 700nm.

Wave Behavior
All waves share common behaviors.
Velocity/Medium dependency
Frequency/Wavelength
relationship
Reflection/Transmission at
medium boundary

Wave Behavior
All waves share common behaviors.
Velocity/Medium dependency: The speed with
which a wave travels depends only on properties of
the medium through which it travels.
Frequency/Wavelength relationship: The lower
the frequency the larger the wavelength. The
higher the frequency the shorter the wavelength.
Reflection/Transmission at medium boundary:
A wave when it reaches a barrier will bounce off
and reverse direction (reflect). Depending on the
medium beyond the barrier, some of the wave
energy may transmit through the barrier into the
new medium.

Frequency/Wavelength
Relationship
The lower the frequency the larger the wavelength. The
higher the frequency the shorter the wavelength.

Wave Behavior
We know that waves travel through
mediums.
But what happens when that medium
runs out?

Boundary Behavior
The behavior of a wave when it reaches
the end of its medium is called the waves
BOUNDARY BEHAVIOR.
When one medium ends and another
begins, that is called a boundary.

Fixed End

Here the incident pulse is an upward pulse.

The reflected pulse is upside-down. It is
inverted.
The reflected pulse has the same speed,
wavelength, and frequency as the incident
pulse.

Wave Reflection

A wave when it reaches a barrier will bounce off and

reverse direction.

Characteristics of the reflected pulse include:

the speed of the reflected pulse is the same as the speed of the
incident pulse
the wavelength and frequency of the reflected pulse is the same as the
wavelength and frequency of the incident pulse
the amplitude of the reflected pulse may be less than the amplitude of
the incident pulse

Free End

Another boundary type is when a

waves medium is attached to a
stationary object as a free end.
In this situation, the end of the medium
is allowed to slide up and down.
What would happen in this case?

Free End

Here the reflected pulse is not inverted.

It is identical to the incident pulse, except
it is moving in the opposite direction.
The speed, wavelength, and frequency
are the same as the incident pulse.

Free End Animation

What Do You Think?

What happens at the point where two waves meet if:
1. the waves are traveling on opposite sides of a
slinky and one wave has an amplitude of 10 cm
while the second wave has an amplitude of 20
cm?
2. the waves are traveling on the same side of a
slinky and one wave has an amplitude of 10 cm
while the second wave had an amplitude of 20
cm?
What happens after they meet?

Wave Behavior
All waves share common behaviors. When
two waves meet while traveling along the
same medium it is called Interference.
Constructive Interference: Two or more
waves combine to form a wave with
greater amplitude.
Destructive Interference: Two or more
waves combine to form a wave with a
smaller amplitude.

Wave Interference
Principle of Superposition
When two waves meet their amplitudes ADD together at the
point at which they meet and then they continue on their
Constructive
Interference
way as before.

Destructive Interference

Check Your Understanding

Which points will produce constructive interference
and which will produce destructive interference?
Constructive
G, J, M, N

Destructive
H, I, K, L, O

Standing Waves

Nodes and Antinodes

Guitar Videoclip

Vibrating String

Applying the basic

wave relationship gives an
expression for the
fundamental frequency:
can be put in the form:

Since the wave velocity is given by

, the frequency expression

Harmonics
An ideal vibrating string will vibrate with its fundamental frequency and all
harmonics of that frequency.
If you have a string with
starting pitch:
and change to

100 Hz

the pitch
will
be

double the length

50 Hz

four times the tension

200 Hz

four times the mass

50 Hz

Harmonics
Harmonic

Pattern

# of
Loops

Length-Wavelength
Relationship

1st

L=1/2

2nd

L=2/2

3rd

L=3/2

Example: The string at the right is 1.5 meters long

and is vibrating as the first harmonic. The string
vibrates up and down with 33 cycles in 10
seconds. Determine the frequency, period,
wavelength and speed for this wave.

Harmonics
Given: L = 1.5 m, 33 cycles in 10 seconds
1. The frequency refers to how often a point on the medium undergoes backand-forth vibrations; it is measured as the number of cycles per unit of time.
f = (33 cycles) / (10 seconds) = 3.3 Hz
2. The period is the reciprocal of the frequency.
T = 1 / (3.3 Hz) = 0.303 seconds
3. The wavelength of the wave is related to the length of the rope. For the first
harmonic as pictured in this problem, the length of the rope is equivalent to
one-half of a wavelength. That is, L = 0.5 where is the wavelength.
= 2 L = 2 (1.5 m) = 3.0 m
4. The speed of a wave can be calculated from its wavelength and frequency
using the wave equation:
v = f = (3.3 Hz) (3. 0 m) = 9.9 m/s

Nodes and Antinodes

r
Constructive interference is
w
Resonance
what causes the amplitude to
r
increase.
i The frequency of the wave itself is equal to
Resonance is a special type of constructive interference.
s the frequency of new waves being created.
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Resonance
Tacoma Narrows
Bridge Collapse
A famous example of
resonance is the
destruction of the
Tacoma Narrows
Bridge in Washington.
Soon after the bridge
was built in 1940, it
began to vibrate due to
wind.

Resonance
The driving vibration
frequencies from the
wind matched the
natural resonant
frequency of the
bridge. The
amplitude of
oscillations got larger
and larger. Within
hours, the entire
bridge had broken
apart and collapsed.

It was a spectacular failure.

The failure was not due to
extraordinarily strong winds, but
rather it was the matching of natural
vibration frequency that took it down.