PhysicsCode 9702
Progressive waves
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- describe the idea of wave motion, shown through vibrations in ropes, springs and ripple tanks
- understand what displacement, amplitude, phase difference, period, frequency, wavelength and speed mean, and use these terms
- understand how a cathode-ray oscilloscope (CRO) uses its time-base and y-gain settings to find frequency and amplitude
- derive the wave equation v = f λ by starting from the definitions of speed, frequency and wavelength
- recall and apply the relation v = f λ
- understand that a progressive wave carries energy from one place to another
- recall that, for a progressive wave, intensity = power/area and also intensity ∝ (amplitude)², and use both relations