Downloaded from www.clastify.

com by Elena Thia

Oscillations:
Isochronous oscillations:
• Isochronous oscillations take the same time
• Those oscillations repeat in the same time period, maintaining this constant time
property no matter what amplitude changes occur.
Periodic motion:
• Motion that repeats at a given time interval (period)

om
.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th

• Frequency --> number of oscillations completed per unit of time

a.

• Period = 1 / Frequency
en

Simple harmonic motion:

• In order to perform simple harmonic motion an object must have a restoring force
el

(force acting opposite to displacement to bring the system back to equilibrium) acting
ify

on it:
st

o The magnitude of the restoring force is proportional to the displacement

a
Cl

o Acceleration always has the opposite direction to displacement

o Direction is always towards the fixed point (e.g. in spring fixed point is
equilibrium position of mass - where it was before it was pulled down)
o When the spring will be pushed down the tension will want to push it up, while
weight will want to pull it down. Tension will be grater than weight and therefore
the spring will move up.
o The difference between the tension and weight equals the restoring force
Phase difference:
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

• One period is equivalent to 2 pi radians (360 degrees)

• The two curves are both the same shape

om
• The only difference between them is that they start at different points

.c
• This is the phase difference
ok
tlo
Travelling waves:
ou

Fundamental types of waves:

• Mechanical - require medium through which they can travel
@

• Electromagnetic - can travel through vacuum

ia
th
a.

Longitudinal waves:
en
el
ify
a st
Cl

• Direction of energy travel is parallel to the direction in which the spring vibration
travels
Transverse waves:
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

• Direction of energy travel is perpendicular to the direction in which the spring vibration
travels.

Wavelength - distance between two points on a wave that are in phase

Frequency - number of crests passing a fixed point per second

om
Period - time taken for one complete wavelength to pass a fixed point
Amplitude - maximum displacement of a wave from its rest position

.c
Displacement-distance graphs: ok
tlo
• Represents the displacement of many wave particles at a particular instant
ou

Displacement-time graphs:
@

• Describes the displacement of one particle at a certain position during a continuous

ia

range of times
th
a.

The wave equation:

en

• When a source of a wave undergoes one complete oscillation the wave it produces
el

moves forward by one wavelength.

ify

• The frequency of a wave determines the number of oscillations per second.

• Therefore the velocity of a wave equals the frequency times the wavelength
st

• Velocity (meters per second) = frequency (Hertz) * wavelength (meters)

a
Cl

Electromagnetic waves:
• All electromagnetic waves are transvers
• They travel at 300 million meters per second in a vacuum
• All electromagnetic waves (except Gamma rays) are produced when electrons undergo
an energy change
• Gamma rays are emitted by nucleus decays.
• Electromagnetic waves with frequencies higher than visible light are ionizing.
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

Wave characteristics:
Wavefront - a surface that travels with a wave and is perpendicular to the direction in which

om
the wave travels

.c
Ray - line showing the direction in which a wave transfers energy
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th
a.
en
el
ify
a st
Cl

Intensity of waves:
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

• Loudness of a sound wave or brightness of a light depends on the amount of energy

that is received by an observer
• Energy is proportional to the square of amplitude
• Loudness and brightness are both affected by frequency
• Intensity is the power transferred per unit area.

Intensity = Power (Watts) / (4 * pi * r^2 (distance from point source in meters))

Principle of superposition:
• When two or more waves meet the total displacement is the vector sum of their
individual displacements
• After the waves interacted, they continue on their ways as if they have never met at
all.

om
.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th

•
a.
en
el
ify
a st
Cl

Polarization:
• Difference between transverse and longitudinal waves can be seen by the property of
polarization.
• Transvers waves oscillate in all directions, you can make them oscillate in just one
plane by polarizing them!
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

om
.c
• ok
Polarization of a transverse wave restricts the direction of oscillation to a plane
tlo
perpendicular to the direction of propagation (travel).
ou

• Longitudinal waves do not exhibit polarization because the direction of oscillations for
those waves is parallel to the direction of propagation.
@
ia
th
a.
en
el
ify
a st
Cl

• Plane polarized - direction of vibration stays constant over time

• Partial polarization - some restriction to direction of vibration but not 100%.
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

• Circular/elliptical polarization - direction of vibration rotates at the same frequency as

the wave, caused when wave is in a strong magnetic field

Polarization of light:
• When unpolarized light reflected off a glass plate it could be polarized depending upon
the angle of incidence.

om
• When unpolarized light incident on the surface of an optically denser material, at an

.c
angle called the polarizing angle, the reflected ray would be completely plane
polarized. ok
tlo
• Today the most common method of producing polarized light is to use a polarizing
filter (called a Polaroid).
ou

• When a pair of Polaroids are oriented to be at 90 degrees to each other, no light is able
@

to pass through.
ia

• The first of the 2 Polaroids is called the polarizer and the second is called the analyzer.
th
a.
en

Malus's law:
• When a totally plane-polarized light (from a polarizer) is incident on an analyzer the
el

intensity of the light transmitted by the analyzer is directly proportional to the square
ify

of the cosine of angle between the transmission axes of the analyzer and the polarizer.
st

• http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chapters2/0041.html
a
Cl

Wave behavior:
Reflection and refraction:
1. The reflected and refracted rays are in the same are in the same plane as the incident
ray and the normal.
2. The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection
3. The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the seine of the angle of refraction is
a constant called the (relative) refractive index.
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

om
.c
• ok
If light strikes an interface so that there is a 90o angle between the reflected and
tlo
refracted rays, the reflected light will be linearly polarized. In this case the index of
ou

refraction of the material is tan(angle of incidence) = n2 /n1

@
ia

Refractive index and Snell's law:

th

• The absolute refractive index of a medium is defined in terms of the speed of

a.

electromagnetic waves:
en

!"##$ &' #(#)*+&,-.#/*0) 1-2#! 0/ 2-)33,

el

!"##$ &' #(#)*+&,-./#*0) 1-2#! 0/ *4# ,#$03,

!0/5
• The relative refractive index is defined as !0/56 = 𝑛 where 𝑥 is the angle of incidence
ify

and 𝑥1 is the angle of refraction

st

Critical angle and total internal reflection:

a
Cl

• When a light wave passes from a more optically dense material to a less optically
dense one it speeds up. This means that the wavelength increases (frequency stays
constant), also the direction of the wave moves away from the normal.
• This means that the angle of refraction is greater than the angle of incidence
• As the angle of incidence increases the angle of refraction will approach 90 degrees.
• Optical density is measured in terms of refractive index, the higher the refractive index
the higher the optical density.
• When the angle of refraction is 90, the angle of incidence at that value is called the
critical angle.
• When the incident angle is larger than the critical angle (the angle of refraction is
bigger than 90), total internal reflection occurs - the light doesn't move into the new
medium but is reflected back into the original medium.
• For angles smaller than the critical angle there will always be some reflection
occurring however it will only carry a small amount of the incident energy.
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

Calculating the critical angle:

!0/5
• Snell's law gives
!0/56
=𝑛
• In order to obtain a critical angle 𝑥1 (the angle of refraction) has to be equal to 90.
• This gives us 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑥 = 𝑛
/=
• 𝑛= when the less denser material (𝑛2) is air or vacuum then the refractive index is
/6

om
1, so 𝑛2 = 1
6

.c
• sin 𝑥 = where x is the critical angle
/6
ok
tlo
Diffraction:
ou

• When a wave passes through a narrow gap or slit, or when the waves' path is partly
blocked by any object, the waves spread out.
@
ia
th
a.
en
el
ify
a st
Cl
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

• The speed, frequency, and wavelength each remain the same after diffraction
• The direction of propagation and the pattern of the waves change
• The effect of diffraction is mot obvious when the slit width is approximately equal to
the wavelength of the waves
• The amplitude of the diffracted waves is less than of the incident waves because the
energy is distributed over a large area.

Double slit interference:

• When two or more waves meet they combine to produce a new wave this is called
interference.
• When the resultant wave has a higher amplitude the interference is constructive, and
when it has a lower amplitude the interference is destructive.
• Observable interference can usually only be achieved if the two sources have the same
frequency (they don't have to be in phase) - they are coherent

om
.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th
a.
en

•
el
ify
a st
Cl

• Red point - destructive interference

• Green point - constructive interference

Standing waves:
A standing wave is formed when two travelling waves of equal amplitude and frequency,
travelling with the same speed in the opposite directions are superposed.
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

The places where displacement is 0 are called nodes.

The places where displacement is maximum are called anti nodes.

om
Melde's string:

.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th
a.
en
el
ify
ast
Cl

• If the frequency will be increased eventually the first harmonic will be formed
• If the frequency is further increased the amplitude of the standing wave dies away
until a frequency double the one of the first harmonic is reached, then a second
harmonic is formed.
• The string vibrates with large amplitude only when the applied frequency is a multiple
of the natural frequency of the string
Harmonics on strings:
• A string has a number of frequencies at which it will naturally vibrate, known as
harmonics of string
• The natural frequency at which a string vibrates depends on the tension of the string,
length and mass.
• The first harmonic is the lowest frequency at which a standing wave is formed - it will
consists of just a single loop
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

• Doubling the frequency of vibration halves the wavelength and means that two loops
are formed

om
.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th

• The speed of the waves stays constant

a.

Standing waves in pipes:

en

• Different from standing waves on a string

el

• In pipes the wave medium is usually air and the waves are longitudinal.
ify

• Pipes can have 2 closed ends, two open ends or one opened and one closed
st

• The sound waves are reflected at both ends of the pipe irrespective whether they are
a

open or closed
Cl

•
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

om
.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th
a.
en
el
ify
st

Harmonics in pipes:
a

• The harmonic in a pipe depends whether the ends of a pipe are open or closed.
Cl

• For a pipe with one open end there always has to be a node at the closed end, and an
antinode at the open end
• This means that only odd harmonics are allowed (the number of the harmonic is the
number of half loops in this type of pipe)
• For a pipe with two open ends there must always be an antinode at each end
• This means that all harmonics are achievable (the number of loops gives the number of
harmonics)
• Frequencies of one open end pipe:
o Suppose the pipe has length L
o The wavelength of the first harmonic would be 4L
)
o And the frequency would be (the speed = frequency * wavelength equation)
BC
where c is the speed of sound in the pipe.
E B
o For the third harmonic 𝐿 = ∗ 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡h, so 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡h = 𝐿 and the
B E
E)
frequency = BC
o A harmonic is named by the ratio of its frequency to that of the first harmonic\
Downloaded from www.clastify.com by Elena Thia

Boundary condition:
• In meeting the boundary of s string or pipe the wave reflects - this is known as a fixed
boundary
• At a fixed boundary there will be the usual phase change of 180 meaning that the
reflected wave cancels the incident ray and forms a node.
• Closed end pipes also have fixed boundaries
• In the case of an open-end pipe there is still a reflection of the wave at the boundary
but no phase change, so the reflected wave doesn't cancel the incident wave and there
is an antinode formed. This is called free boundary

om
.c
ok
tlo
ou
@
ia
th
a.
en
el
ify
a st
Cl