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Flashcards by ed.wilson89, updated more than 1 year ago
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| Question | Answer |
| A mechanical wave requires a medium to travel | An example of a medium is air or water |
| When waves travel, they are accompanied by the transfer of energy | And with mechanical waves energy is transfered to the medium |
| This energy propogates in the same direction in which the wave is travelling | Although the wave transfers energy, no material is transported by it |
| An example of a mechanical wave is a wave in the sea or a sound wave | It is clear that these waves carry energy, but where does this energy come from? |
| Because energy cannot be created, these waves require an initial energy input | This can be as simple as creating a ripple in a pond with a stone |
| If the energy input is just applied once, a disturbance of particles occurs at the source | This disturbance continues until the destination is reached |
| However, for a transverse wave if the disturbance at the source continues, the wave is maintained | If the disturbance is simple harmonic, a plot of the displacement of the wave at any given point will be a sine curve |
| A good way to visualise this motion is a bead on a string that is being shaken at one end, and is fixed at the other | Think of the bead as an air particle that the wave is using as a medium |
| If you apply a simple harmonic force to the rope in a virtical direction, you will produce a sine wave | When you stop shaking the rope, the bead returns to its original position |
| This is beause the only thing that moves in the wave is energy | The actual particles, after the wave has gone by, have no overall displacement |
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