Wave
A wave is a disturbance that propagates through space and time, usually with transference of energy. A mechanical wave is a wave that propagates or travels through a medium due to the restoring forces it produces upon deformation. There also exist waves capable of traveling through a vacuum, including electromagnetic radiation and probably[1] gravitational radiation. Waves travel and transfer energy from one point to another, often with no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium (that is, with little or no associated mass transport); they consist instead of oscillations or vibrations around almost fixed locations.
Definitions
Agreeing on a single, all-encompassing definition for the term wave is non-trivial. A vibration can be defined as a back-and-forth motion around a reference value. However, a vibration is not necessarily a wave. Defining the necessary and sufficient characteristics that qualify a phenomenon to be called a wave is, at least, flexible.
The term is often understood intuitively as the transport of disturbances in space, not associated with motion of the medium occupying this space as a whole. In a wave, the energy of a vibration is moving away from the source in the form of a disturbance within the surrounding medium (Hall 1980, p. 8). However, this notion is problematic for a standing wave (for example, a wave on a string), where energy is moving in both directions equally, or for electromagnetic / light waves in a vacuum, where the concept of medium does not apply. There are water waves in the ocean; light waves from the sun; microwaves inside the microwave oven; radio waves transmitted to the radio; and sound waves from the radio, telephone, and voices.
It may be seen that the description of waves is accompanied by a heavy reliance on physical origin when describing any specific instance of a wave process. For example, acoustics is distinguished from optics in that sound waves are related to a mechanical rather than an electromagnetic wave-like transfer / transformation of vibratory energy. Concepts such as mass, momentum, inertia, or elasticity, become therefore crucial in describing acoustic (as distinct from optic) wave processes. This difference in origin introduces certain wave characteristics particular to the properties of the medium involved (for example, in the case of air: vortices, radiation pressure, shock waves, etc., in the case of solids: Rayleigh waves, dispersion, etc., and so on).
Other properties, however, although they are usually described in an origin-specific manner, may be generalized to all waves. For such reasons, wave theory represents a particular branch of physics that is concerned with the properties of wave processes independently from their physical origin.[2] For example, based on the mechanical origin of acoustic waves there can be a moving disturbance in space–time if and only if the medium involved is neither infinitely stiff nor infinitely pliable. If all the parts making up a medium were rigidly bound, then they would all vibrate as one, with no delay in the transmission of the vibration and therefore no wave motion (or rather infinitely fast wave motion). On the other hand, if all the parts were independent, then there would not be any transmission of the vibration and again, no wave motion (or rather infinitely slow wave motion). Although the above statements are meaningless in the case of waves that do not require a medium, they reveal a characteristic that is relevant to all waves regardless of origin: within a wave, the phase of a vibration (that is, its position within the vibration cycle) is different for adjacent points in space because the vibration reaches these points at different times.
Similarly, wave processes revealed from the study of waves different from that of sound waves can be significant to the understanding of sound phenomena. A relevant example is Thomas Young's principle of interference (Young, 1802, in Hunt 1992, p. 132). This principle was first introduced in Young's study of light and, within some specific contexts (for example, scattering of sound by sound), is still a researched area in the study of sound.
Characteristics
B = In shallow water. The elliptical movement of a surface particle becomes flatter with decreasing depth.
1 = Progression of wave
2 = Crest
3 = Trough
Periodic waves are characterized by crests (highs) and troughs (lows), and may usually be categorized as either longitudinal or transverse. Transverse waves are those with vibrations perpendicular to the direction of the propagation of the wave; examples include waves on a string, and electromagnetic waves. Longitudinal waves are those with vibrations parallel to the direction of the propagation of the wave; examples include most sound waves.
When an object bobs up and down on a ripple in a pond, it experiences an orbital trajectory because ripples are not simple transverse sinusoidal waves.
Ripples on the surface of a pond are actually a combination of transverse and longitudinal waves; therefore, the points on the surface follow orbital paths.
All waves have common behavior under a number of standard situations. All waves can experience the following:
- Reflection — change in wave direction after it strikes a reflective surface, causing the angle the wave makes with the reflective surface in relation to a normal line to the surface to equal the angle the reflected wave makes with the same normal line
- Refraction — change in wave direction because of a change in the wave's speed from entering a new medium
- Diffraction — bending of waves as they interact with obstacles in their path, which is more pronounced for wavelengths on the order of the diffracting object size
- Interference — superposition of two waves that come into contact with each other (collide)
- Dispersion — wave splitting up by frequency
- Rectilinear propagation — the movement of light waves in a straight line
Polarization
A wave is polarized if it can only oscillate in one direction or plane. The polarization of a transverse wave describes the direction of oscillation in the plane perpendicular to the direction of travel. Longitudinal waves such as sound waves do not exhibit polarization. For these waves the direction of oscillation is along the direction of travel. A wave can be polarized by the use of a polarizing filter.
Examples
Examples of waves include:
- Ocean surface waves, which are perturbations that propagate through water
- Radio waves, microwaves, infrared rays, visible light, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays, which make up electromagnetic radiation; can be propagated without a medium, through vacuum; and travel at 299,792,458 m/s in a vacuum
- Sound — a mechanical wave that propagates through air, liquid or solids
- Waves of traffic, that is, propagation of different densities of motor vehicles, and so forth, which can be modeled as kinematic waves, as first presented by Sir M. J. Lighthill[3]
- Seismic waves in earthquakes, of which there are three types, called S, P, and L
- Gravitational waves, which are fluctuations in the curvature of spacetime predicted by general Relativity, and which are nonlinear, and which have yet to be observed empirically
- Inertial waves, which occur in rotating fluids and are restored by the Coriolis effect
Sources
- Campbell, M. and Greated, C. (1987). The Musician’s Guide to Acoustics. New York: Schirmer Books.
- French, A.P. (1971). Vibrations and Waves (M.I.T. Introductory physics series). Nelson Thornes. ISBN 0-393-09936-9. OCLC 163810889.
- Hall, D. E. (1980), Musical Acoustics: An Introduction, Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, ISBN 0534007589 .
- Hunt, F. V. (1992) [1966], Origins in Acoustics, New York: Acoustical Society of America Press, https://asa.aip.org/publications.html#pub17 .
- Ostrovsky, L. A.; Potapov, A. S. (1999), Modulated Waves, Theory and Applications, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0801858704 .
- Vassilakis, P.N. (2001). Perceptual and Physical Properties of Amplitude Fluctuation and their Musical Significance. Doctoral Dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles.
