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Traveling Waves
- A mechanical wave is a self sustaining disturbance of a medium that propagates within the medium carrying energy and momentum.
- Mechanical waves require (1) a source of disturbance, (2) a medium that can be disturbed, and (3) a mechanism by which a portion of the region can influence adjacent regions.
- In a transverse wave, such as a wave on a string, the displacement is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave.
- In a longitudinal wave, such as a compression wave in a spring, the displacement is along the direction of propagation of the wave.
- The speed of a mechanical wave is determined by the properties of the medium in which the wave propagates.
- A wave on a string travels with a speed equal to SQRT (T/mu), where SQRT stands for square root, T is the tension in the string, and mu is the mass of the string divided by its length.
- If a pulse strikes a fixed boundary, the reflected wave will be inverted. No inversion occurs if the boundary is free.
Traveling Waves
Lecture Slides are screen-captured images of important points in the lecture. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture.
- Intro
- What is a Wave?
- Example: Rod and Swinging Balls
- Huge Number of Atoms
- Disturbance Propagates
- Source of Disturbance
- Wave Propagation
- Mechanism of Medium
- Disturbance Moves
- Types of Waves
- Sinusoidal Waves
- Speed of Wave on Strings
- Example
- Reflection of Waves
- Extra Example 1: Tension in Cord
- Extra Example 2: Waves on String
- Extra Example 3: Mass on Cord with Pulse































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