Waves

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  • Waves
    • Wave Properties: Refraction
      • Refraction is the change of direction in light due to it passing through a median of different density
      • The light ray changes direction towards the normal meaning the angle of refraction (r) is smaller than the angle of incidence (i)
      • When exiting the median, r is greater than i
    • Measuring Waves
      • The amplitude of a wave is the distance between any trough or peak and the middle of the wave
      • The wavelength is the distance from peak to peak or from trough to trough
      • Wave Speed: Wave speed = frequency x wavelength
    • The Nature of Waves
      • There are two types of wave:
        • Mechanical Waves: These include sound waves, water waves and seismic waves
          • These waves are vibrations and require a median to pass through
          • Sound waves are longitudinal meaning that the vibrations are parallel to the direction in which the wave is travelling
        • Electromagnetic waves: These incleds light waves, radio waves and microwaves
          • All these waves travel at roughly 300,000,000 metres a second and do not require a median to pass through
          • All electromagnetic waves are transverse waves meaning the vibrations are perpendicular to the direction in which te wave is transferring energy
    • Wave Properties: Diffraction
      • Diffraction is the spreading of waves when passing through a small gap or past an obstacle
      • The smaller the gap, the more the waves spread out
    • Wave Properties: Reflection
      • The line perpendicular to the reflection pane is the Normal
      • The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal
      • The angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the normal
      • The incident ray is the ray of light that will be reflected
        • Angle of incidence = angle of reflection
    • Sound
      • Sound waves are just vibrations of particles
        • An object vibrating in air will make the layers of air near it vibrate, they will make other layers of air vibrate and so on and so on
      • Sound cannot pass through a vacuum
      • Increasing the loudness of a sound increases the amplitude of the wave
        • Increasing the frequency of the sound increases its pitch

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