NATS 1945 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Diffraction, Refraction, Wind Instrument
6 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
A wave is an oscillating disturbance that travels through matter or space: types of waves: Longitudinal waves have a disturbance in the same direction as the wave is travelling (e. g. sound). Transverse waves have disturbance that is perpendicular to the direction. The amplitude of wave is the height of a wave crest (determines intensity, brightness, the wave is travelling (e. g. water or light). volume, etc. Wavelength (l or ): distance between adjacent crests (determines colour, pitch, etc: audible sound waves have l between 1cm-20m (millions of times longer than light waves). Period (t): is the time between successive wave crests/peaks. Frequency (f): is the number of wavelengths leaving the source each second and is measured in hertz; (1 hz = 1 wavelength/sec). Wave speed (v): is the travelling speed of disturbance (depends on medium): v = f l (the wave equation)
