NOTES: WAVES  Period (T) of a wave is the time taken for one

complete cycle of the wave to pass a reference

Wave – disturbance that travels through a medium or a point; reciprocal of frequency
vacuum and carries energy
Wave pulse – a single, unrepeated disturbance
Wave train – succession of periodic disturbance

PARTS OF THE WAVE

 Wavelength ( ) is the distance between any of

two successive points in a wave.

 Crest – highest point of the wave

 Trough – lowest point of the wave
 Wavelength – distance between two successive
crests or two successive trough
 Amplitude- distance between the rest point to
the crest or trough

 In phase – the distance between two

PROPERTIES OF WAVES points is equal to one wavelength
Wave can be described in terms of the following:  Out of phase – the distance between
 Frequency (f) of the wave is the number of two points is not equal to one
waves it produces per unit of time (SI unit: Hz) wavelength

 Amplitude (A) of a wave refers to the maximum

amount of displacement of a particle on the
medium from its rest position.

 Speed (v) is the distance traveled by a wave per

unit of time. This may be obtained if the
frequency and wavelength of the wave are
known.
 CLASSIFICATION OF WAVES APPLICATION OF EM WAVES:
According to medium they travel:
 Mechanical wave – travels with medium only
(e.g. sound wave)
 Electromagnetic wave – travels with or without
medium (e.g. light, heat, radio, microwave)
According to the direction of the energy and
displacement:
 Transverse wave – particles of the medium are
vibrating perpendicularly to the direction of
wave propagation; composed of crests and
troughs; all EM waves are transverse.

ENERGY TRANSMISSON BY WAVE

 Energy of a wave is proportional to the square

of its amplitude

 Longitudinal wave – particles of the medium

vibrate parallel to the direction of the wave
propagation; composed of compressions and
rarefactions; sound is longitudinal wave.
 The energy carried by a mechanical wave is
proportional to the square of its frequency

 The energy of EM wave depends on its

frequency

 Some waves are a combination of longitudinal

E=hf
and transverse wave like seismic wave.
 Intensity of the wave is defined as the energy
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE SPECTRUM – describes the (E) transported per unit Area (A) and per unit
entire range of EM radiation in order time (s)

 INVERSE SQUARE LAW: Both mechanical and

EM wave are inversely proportional to the
square of the distance of a point from the
source of the wave.

 James Clerk Maxwell theorized the existence of

EM wave
 Heinrich Hertz help prove the theory
 CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND
Described in 3 perceptual characteristics:
 Pitch – highness and lowness of the sound
 Loudness – intensity of the sound
o Threshold of hearing
o Threshold of pain
 Quality or timbre – property of tone that
distinguishes it from another tone of the same
pitch and intensity

Noise pollution
 Defined as unwanted or damaging sound
 Interferes with what people are trying to do
 Has an adverse effect on health or safety

NATURE OF LIGHT
Theories of the Origin of Light:
 Bible – the Creator commanded for the light to
appear
 Plato and Euclid – something given off by the
eye
 Aristotle – nonmaterial that goes through
between the space between the eye and the
object seen
 Pythagoras – fine particles coming from a
luminous object
 Wave Theory (Christian Huygens) – wave
propagating in ether
 Corpuscle or Particle Theory (Isaac Newton) –
consist of tiny particles emitted by a luminous
object
 Electromagnetic Theory (James Clerk Maxwell)
– wave that is partly magnetic and partly
electrical in nature
 Quantum Theory (Max Planck, Albert Einstein) –
is an energy (photon)

What is light?
Light is both particle and wave.