Chapter 14 Wave Motion We now leave our studies of mechanics and take up the second major topic of the course wave motion though it is similar to SHM Wave a traveling disturbance which carries energy from one point to another but without the translation of mass Wave pulse A wave usually travels through a medium gas liquid solid except for light an electromagnetic wave which can propagate through a vacuum The particles of the medium which convey the wave can be said to oscillate about their equilibrium positions like SHM Waves can be classified according to the direction of the oscillatory displacement Transverse waves the displacement of the particle conveying the wave is perpendicular to the direction of the wave examples are a guitar string and light Longitudinal waves the displacement is along the direction of the wave examples are sound the spring and seismic waves Some waves can be a mixture of longitudinal and transverse modes surface water wave Can also classify waves as to whether they are a Pulse a single cycle of disturbance Periodic a repeating pattern of cycles In both cases each particle of the medium experiences SHM but for the pulse they start from rest go through one cycle then return to rest while for a periodic wave they experience many many cycles t0 Pulse on a string t1 t2 Periodic wave y A x y T A t T Can have wave motion in both time same as SHM and space x direction for example wavelength the length of one complete wave cycle units of m Analogous to the Period T of a wave for motion in time In fact they are related v vT f Where v is the velocity of the wave It is the velocity of a point on the wave crest trough etc not of a particle Since wave motion can be in space and time we would like to have an equation for the displacement y as a function of space and time The displacement for a particle as a function of t and x without proof 2 x y Asin 2 ft Asin kx t positive x direction wave motion negative x direction wave motion k 2 the angular wave number The quantity in parentheses is dimensionless radians and is called the phase angle of a wave y A sin A cos 2 The correspondence with Simple Harmonic Motion should be apparent Example Problem The speed of a transverse wave on a string is 450 m s while the wavelength is 0 18 m The amplitude of the wave is 2 0 mm How much time is required for a particle of the string to move through a distance of 1 0 km Solution Given v 450 m s 0 18 m A 2 0 mm D 1 0 km travel distance of particle back and forward in the y direction Find time for particle to cover distance of 1 0 km Convert to SI units A 2 0x10 3 m D 1 0x103 m A is the distance covered in 1 4 cycle Therefore distance covered in 1 cycle is 8 0x10 3 m The period of each cycle is vT 0 18 m T 4 0 x10 4 s v 450 m s The number of cycles to cover 1 0 km is total distance 1 0 x10 3 m 5 cycles 1 25 x10 distance per cycle 8 0x10 3 m 5 4 1 t cycles T 1 25x10 4 0 x10 s 5 0x10 s
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