Lesson 13, 14 and 15: Waves and Oscillations

Contents: Introduction to Waves Simple Harmonic Motion Energy in SHM Damped Oscillations

Waves
The repeating and periodic disturbance which moves through a medium from one location to another is referred to as a wave. Waves are everywhere. Whether we recognize it or not, we encounter waves on a daily basis. Sound waves, visible light waves, radio waves, microwaves, water waves, sine waves, cosine waves, stadium waves, earthquake waves, waves on a string, and slinky waves and are just a few of the e amples of our daily encounters with waves. A Wave Transports Energy and ot !atter When a wave is present in a medium the particles of the medium !water molecules, slinky coils, stadium fans" simply vibrate about a fi ed position as the pattern of the disturbance moves from one location to another location. There is always a force acting upon the particles which restores them to their original position. Types o" waves # transverse wave is a wave in which particles of the medium move in a direction perpendicular to the direction which the wave moves.

e.g. Water waves and harmonic waves # longit#dinal wave is a wave in which particles of the medium move in a direction parallel to the direction which the wave moves.

e.g. Sound waves # s#r"ace wave is a wave in which particles of the medium undergo a circular motion. Surface waves are neither longitudinal nor transverse.

e.g. Waves produce on the surface of water #n electro$agnetic wave is a wave which is capable of transmitting its energy through a vacuum !i.e., empty space". $lectromagnetic waves are produced by the vibration of charged particles. e.g. radio waves # $ec%anical wave is a wave which is not capable of transmitting its energy through a vacuum. %echanical waves require a medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another. e.g. sound waves &ar$onic wave # harmonic wave is a sinusoidal wave which has same amplitude and frequency. e.g. sine waves and cosine waves

'asic ter$s o" waves and oscillations

Time Period (T) is the time taken for an oscillating object to complete one full oscillation. &t is measured in s.

Fre uency (!) is the number of oscillations undergone in one second, and is measured in hertz !'z".
! = ( T Where ! is frequency and T is period

Displacement of an oscillating particle is the distance the particle has been moved from its equilibrium position. "mplitude is the ma imum displacement of the vibrating object from the equilibrium position !its usual position". The #avelengt$ of a wave is simply the length of one complete wave cycle. Wave speed The speed of a wave is the distance traveled by a given point on the wave !such as a crest" in a given interval of time.

v %! where v is speed, ! os frequency and is wave length Energy Transport and t%e A$plit#de o" a Wave The amount of energy carried by a wave is related to the amplitude of the wave. # high energy wave is characterized by a high amplitude) a low energy wave is characterized by a low amplitude.

The energy transported by a wave is directly proportional to the square of the amplitude of the wave. This energy*amplitude relationship is sometimes e pressed in the following manner.

Oscillations
(i$ple &ar$onic !otion Simple harmonic motion !S'%" is the motion of a simple harmonic oscillator, a motion that is neither driven nor damped. The motion is periodic * as it repeats itself at standard intervals in a specific manner * and sinusoidal, with constant amplitude. T%e si$ple pend#l#$ The simple pendulum is the idealized model of a mass swinging on the end of a mass*less string. +or small arcs of swing of less than (, degrees, the motion of the pendulum appro imates S'%.

T%e relation o" (&! to Elasticity # mass bouncing up and down on the end of a spring undergoes vibrational motion. When a mass is hung on the end of the spring, at equilibrium the downward gravitational force on the mass must be balanced by an upward force due to the spring. This force is called the restoring "orce. The negative sign indicates that the direction of the restoring force due to the spring is in the opposite direction from the stretch, or displacement, of the spring. F - ma - &'(. Where + is restoring force, m is mass, a acceleration, k is spring constant and the stretch

T%e relation o" circ#lar $otion and si$ple %ar$onic $otion #spects of S'% can be visualized by looking at its relationship to uniform circular motion. The following illustration shows the projection of the image of the stick on a rotating wheel onto a billboard attached to a truck moving at a speed v - !angular speed of the rotating wheel". The image traced out is a sine wave, showing that circular motion is also a simple harmonic motion.

"ngular !re uency - ./T - .! "ngular )elocity v - "0 where v is angular velocity !m/s", is angular frequency/speed !rad *(" and # is ma imum amplitude. Energy in t%e (i$ple &ar$onic !otion The potential energy of a 'ooke1s law spring is P. E.-!(/." '(.. The total energy is the sum of the kinetic and potential energies at any time and is conserved. he total energy during an oscillation !for e ample, a pendulum on a string" is constant as long as no energy is lost to the environment2

The energy in the system changes from potential to kinetic and back every $al! cycle, but the total energy in the system is constant at all times !the dotted line is the sum of the 3.$. and 4.$." 4$ - (/. mv. and 3$ - (/. ks. Total energy % *inetic energy + potential energy Total energy - (/. mv. 5 (/. ks. Where2 m - mass on the spring !kg", v - velocity of the mass !ms*(", k - spring constant s - displacement of mass !m"

)a$ping &n practice, the amplitude of vibrations becomes progressively smaller as energy is lost due to friction between the oscillating body and the particles in the air. &f energy is being removed from the system, the amplitude of the oscillations must become smaller and smaller, we say that the oscillations are being da$ped.

The amplitude of oscillations decrease with time. The higher the damping, the faster the oscillations will reduce in size.

Critical da$ping is the damping required to make the oscillations stop in the quickest possible time without going past the equilibrium position.

&t is sometimes useful to damp vibrations. +or e ample, car suspensions are damped to stop them bouncing for a long time. at#ral *re+#ency and ,esonance T$e !re uency o! un,damped oscillations in a system- #$ic$ $as .een allo#ed to oscillate on its o#n- is called t$e natural !re uency- !0. &n order to keep it vibrating after you1ve hit it, you need to keep re*hitting it periodically to make up for the energy being lost. We say that you need to apply a periodic !orce to it. /esonance occurs #$en a system is made to vi.rate at its natural !re uency as a result o! vi.ration received !rom a periodic !orce o! same !re uency0 #isances o" ,esonance 6uring resonance vibrations can build up to dangerous levels...

Washing machines and buses will often vibrate violently when the engine oscillates at their natural frequency. &t is resonance that smashes a glass when an opera singer hits the note that is the natural frequency of the glass. 7esonance is also why soldiers break their march to cross a bridge * otherwise resonance may cause the bridge to vibrate so violently that it collapses.

-ses o" ,esonance

%usical instruments * for e ample, wind and string instruments. 8ircuits can use electrical resonance * for e ample, for selecting communication channels.

$ ercise

8onsider the diagram below in order to answer questions 9(*..

(. Which letter represent the wavelength: .. Whi letter represents the amplitude: ;. #ishath and Waheedh stand < meters apart and demonstrate the motion of a transverse wave on a snakey. The wave e can be described as having a vertical distance of ;. cm from a trough to a crest, a frequency of ..= 'z, and a horizontal distance of =< cm from a crest to the nearest trough. 6etermine the amplitude, period, and wavelength of such a wave. =. # teacher attaches a slinky to the wall and begins introducing pulses with different amplitudes. Which of the two pulses !# or >" below will travel from the hand to the wall in the least amount of time: ?ustify your answer.

,. What heppens to the speed of wave by doubling the frequency of a wave source: @. Aareer and #li are resting on top of the water near the end of the pool when #li creates a surface wave. The wave travels the length of the pool and back in ., seconds. The pool is ., meters long. 6etermine the speed of the wave. B. The water waves below are traveling along the surface of the ocean at a speed of .., m/s and splashing periodically against #liCs bird. $ach adjacent crest is , meters apart. The crests splash birdCs feet upon reaching the bird. 'ow much time passes between each successive drenching: #nswer and e plain using complete sentences.

<. #n ocean wave has an amplitude of .., m. Weather conditions suddenly change such that the wave has an amplitude of ,.D m. What happens to the amount of energy transported by the wave: (D. 6etermine the period of pendulum (.Dm long. ((. &f the period of a pendulum is (.Ds. 8alculate the lengh. (.. #fterlanding on alien planet in agala y farway. Eou carefully measure the period of a pendulum ..D m long, and find it to be ;.,s. What is the value of FgC on the planet. (;. The figure below shows an air track glider of mass D.=D 4g held by two stretched strings. When the glider is pulled D.D,D m to the left and released, it oscillates freely without friction.

The figure below shows the variation of the elastic strain energy stored in the springs with the displacement from the equilibrium position. Gote that the strain energy is BD m? when the glider is not oscillating.

a. Write down i. the total energy stored in the system when oscillating in m?. ii. the ma imum kinetic energy of the glider in m?. /. i. Show that the ma imum speed of the glider is D.,D ms*(. (;. The variation in depth of water in a harbour can be modelled as a simple harmonic oscillation.

#bove figure shows a graph produced from the model. &t shows the variation of depth of water in a harbour with time over the period of one day !.= hours". a. Hse the graph to find i. the ma imum depth of the water in the harbour

ii. the amplitude # of the tidal motion iii. the rate of change of deptg in metres per hour !m hr*(" at t - @ hours where t - time after midnight in hours. !'int2 use gradient of the graph" /. Hse data from the graph to calculate the frequency f of the tidal motion in units of tides per hour c. The equation for the depth of water d, in metres, in the harbour is 14. The figure below shows the variation with distance ( along a wave of its displacement d at a particular time.

The wave is a progressive wave having a speed of ;;D ms I( . 0a. 0i. Hse +ig. ..( to determine the wavelength of the wave. 0ii. 'ence calculate the frequency of the wave. 0/. # second wave has the same frequency and speed as the wave shown in +ig. ..( but has double the intensity. The phase difference between the two waves is (<DJ. Kn the a es of the above graph, sketch a graph to show the variation with distance ( of the displacement d of this second wave. (,. The figure below shows the variation with time, t of the displacement of point in aprogressive wave. of one

The following figure shows the variation with distance d along the same wave of displacement .

Hse the figures above to determine, for this wave a" #mplitude b" Wavelength c" +requency d" Speed