PHYSICS C10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Diffraction, Refraction
Document Summary
What is a wave: a wave is essentially a moving pattern, waves can only occur in a continuous medium (the distance between the particles must be very small compared to the overall size of the wave). A particle only moves if its neighbor moves. Medium of light is vacuum, or electromagnetic fields. People originally described the medium that carries light as the aether . It only has one crest: created by an impulse, continuously acting upon a medium results in a continuous wave. Continuous wave: caused by a continuous impulse. Properties of waves: speed of wave v (m/s) depends on properties of the medium. More tension = faster wave: amplitude = how much the wave moves up and down. Energy and momentum of waves: all waves carry energy, which is the ability to do work, energy is carried at the wave speed v, waves also carry momentum.
