Transverse and longitudinal waves, amplitude wavelength frequency and period, the wave speed equation, and the required practicals in a ripple tank and on a string.
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1.What do waves transfer?
Energy and information, from one place to another.
2.Do waves transfer matter?
No. The particles or fields oscillate about a fixed position, but the material itself is not carried along.
3.What is a transverse wave?
One where the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer.
4.What is a longitudinal wave?
One where the oscillations are parallel to the direction of energy transfer.
5.Give two examples of transverse waves.
Electromagnetic waves such as light, ripples on water, and S waves in an earthquake.
6.Give two examples of longitudinal waves.
Sound waves, and P waves in an earthquake.
7.What are compressions and rarefactions?
Regions in a longitudinal wave where the particles are closer together and further apart.
8.What is the amplitude of a wave?
The maximum displacement of a point on the wave from its undisturbed position.
9.What is the wavelength?
The distance from a point on one wave to the equivalent point on the next wave.
10.What is the frequency of a wave?
The number of complete waves passing a point each second.
11.What is the unit of frequency?
The hertz, Hz.
12.What is the period of a wave?
The time taken for one complete wave to pass a point.
13.State the equation linking period and frequency.
period = 1 divided by frequency
14.A wave has frequency 50 Hz. Calculate its period.
1 divided by 50 = 0.02 s.
15.State the wave speed equation.
wave speed = frequency x wavelength
16.A wave has frequency 20 Hz and wavelength 3 m. Calculate its speed.
20 x 3 = 60 m/s.
17.A wave travels at 340 m/s with wavelength 2 m. Calculate its frequency.
340 divided by 2 = 170 Hz.
18.What happens to wavelength if frequency increases at constant speed?
It decreases, because speed is fixed and the two are inversely related.
19.What is wave speed?
The speed at which energy is transferred, or the wave moves, through a medium.
20.How do you measure the speed of water waves in a ripple tank?
Measure the wavelength using a ruler against the projected pattern, count the frequency using a stroboscope or by timing waves, then multiply them.
21.Why is a stroboscope useful in a ripple tank?
It appears to freeze the wave pattern, making the wavelength much easier to measure accurately.
22.How do you measure the speed of waves on a string?
Use a vibration generator to form a standing wave, measure the wavelength from the pattern, read the frequency from the generator, then multiply.
23.Why is measuring several wavelengths better than one?
Dividing the total by the number of wavelengths reduces the percentage error in the measurement.
24.What is a wavefront?
A line joining all the points on a wave that are in the same phase, such as the crests.
25.What stays the same when a wave passes into a new medium?
The frequency. The speed and the wavelength both change.
26.Why can sound not travel through a vacuum?
Sound is a longitudinal wave that needs particles to vibrate, and a vacuum has none.
27.What is the speed of sound in air?
About 330 metres per second.
28.What is the speed of electromagnetic waves in a vacuum?
About 3 x 10 to the power 8 metres per second.
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