Waves are disturbances that propagate throush space and time. Classically, they travelled through a medium, disturbing the particles but not changing their mean position. Electromagnetic waves/particle-waves need no medium; they are disturbances in their respective fields.
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Historical aspect of wave theory of light
Huygens thought light as a wave. Wave is a propagation of physical disturbance. We now know that light is electromagnetic field. Electric and magnetic field fluctuates here. What Huygens really ...
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2answers
36 views
Refraction of light and frequency dependence
Why do higher frequency waves refract more, both ocean waves and light waves? Also why is energy stored in the frequency as opposed to the wavelength.
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19 views
Counting the modes of the vector potential in a coulomb gauge
With a view to quantising the EM field, consider a classical free field in the absence of charge and currents, we can take a coulomb gauge, $\phi=0, \partial_kA_k=0$. The physical fields in terms of ...
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46 views
Boundary conditions on wave equation
I am having trouble understanding the boundary conditions.
From the solutions, the first is that $D_1(0, t) = D_2(0, t)$ because the rope can't break at the junction.
The second is that ...
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1answer
48 views
How large of a solar sail would be needed to travel to mars in under a year?
I'm attempting to approach this using the identity
$$F/A = I/c$$
I can solve for Area easily enough
$$A = F(c/I)$$
and I know the distance $d$ is
$$d=1/2(at^2)$$
But I'm having difficulty trying to ...
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37 views
Standing Waves in Flutes
How do the waves produced in flutes have a wave characteristic while maintaining a velocity that allows them to travel to out ear? If it were simply a standing wave I'd imagine that they would ...
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1answer
28 views
Relation of color and frequency for the visible spectrum
In this question the OP is looking for a way to see light that is outside of the visible spectrum without using electronic sensors. This got me wondering about the visible spectrum itself. Typically ...
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1answer
53 views
The second resonance of string?
What is the relationship between "the second resonance " and string and the wavelength. Like in this question: if the length of the string is 2cm with second resonance, then what is wavelength?
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1answer
81 views
Why do sound waves travel at the same speed moleculewise? (Same medium)
I don't understand what happens in reality (outside of wave theories). If I clap my hands I invest energy in the nearby air molecules, which move and transfer their energy to nearby molecules which ...
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1answer
56 views
Will changing amplitude change the frequency?
Will changing the amplitude change the frequency of a wave, or is it possible for a specific frequency (50 Hz. for example) to generate from shifting amplitude patterns?
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64 views
Slinky reverb: the origin of the iconic Star Wars blaster sound
This is a fun problem that I came across recently, which I'm posting here for your delectation. We all love a good slinky: they can be used for all sorts of fun demos in physics. One example is the ...
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2answers
81 views
Is there a way to create a flickering frequency to be dependent on speed of the person looking at it?
Is there a way to make a screen or a road sign flash at different rates, depending on the velocity of the observer looking at it?
I would like to achieve a state where two observers going at ...
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13 views
Minimum thickness of bubble ensuring max reflectance
A soap bubble has index of refraction of 1.33. What minimum thickness of this bubble will ensure max reflectance of normally incident 530 nm light?
Ans is 99.6, but how do I get that?
I am ...
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1answer
27 views
Phasor representation of voltage in frequency domain
In a text on application of electromagnetism in transmission line, there introduces a phasor for the voltage (in frequency domain)
$$\tilde{V}(x) = V^+e^{-i\beta x} + V^-e^{i\beta x.}$$
Here $V^+$ ...
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3answers
72 views
How to determine the direction of medium's displacement vectors of a standing wave?
Consider the following problem taken from a problem booklet. My questions are:
What is displacement vector?
And how to determine the direction of displacement vector at a certain point?
Where is the ...
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3answers
74 views
Lethality of sounds and extreme “loudness”
In theory, could pure sound be lethal? How loud would it have to be? Also, which events are the loudest in the universe, and how loud are they? I'm confining attention to events which occur regularly, ...
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1answer
45 views
EM Waves Energy Loss
Where does the energy go when two photons interfere destructively at a point on a screen in Young's double slit experiment ?
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16 views
Implementing Explicit formulation of 1D wave equation in Matlab #FiniteElements #FiniteDifferences [migrated]
so the theory is straight forward.
we have:
$\frac{d^2U}{(\Delta t)^2}=c^2 \frac{d^2U}{(\Delta x)^2}$
discretizing it gives:
$\frac{U(i+1,j)- 2U(i,j) + U(i-1,j)}{(\Delta t)^2} = c^2 ...
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45 views
Longitudinal EMAG wave?
I'm reading about optical waveguide analysis, and often come across the terms "transverse electric mode" vs. "transverse magnetic mode". As I unerstand, it means that the electric/magnetic field has ...
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2answers
141 views
Standing Waves Energy transfer
And In a standing wave , how does energy travel past a node in a string ?
It should just get reflected . Assume the case of first overtone and you strike the string at a place . How will energy ...
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2answers
145 views
De Broglie wavelength, frequency and velocity - interpretation
Two fundamental equations regarding wave-particle duality are:
$$ \lambda = \frac{h}{p},
\\
\nu = E/h .$$
We talk about de Broglie wavelength, is it meaningful to talk about de Broglie frequency ...
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56 views
Double Slit Problem Involving Superposition of Wave Equation [closed]
Here's my question:
To be clear it's part (iv) that's unclear to me.
I can see that the important bit is that the exposure is over a LONG time. Hence, this must have some implication on the manner ...
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1answer
31 views
Why frequency and tension doesn't change in the two medium?
I am reading a book about wave mechanics. There are two different cord (one light and one heavy) connected together, one person waving the lighter one, the wave transverse to the right from the ...
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2answers
83 views
In terms of the Doppler effect, what happens when the source is moving faster than the wave?
I'm just trying to understand this problem from a qualitative perspective. The Doppler effect is commonly explained in terms of how a siren sounds higher in pitch as it is approaching a particular ...
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1answer
38 views
Nodes and Antinodes for standing wave
In the arrangement shown in the figure below, an object of mass m can
be hung from a string (linear mass density $\mu$ = 2.00 g/m) that passes over
a light (massless) pulley. The string is connected ...
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52 views
Could anyone help me to interpret the wave geometrically? [closed]
This is the problem:
A 180-MHz wave travels in medium characterized by $\mu_r = 1$, $\epsilon_r = 25$, and $\sigma = 2.5$ mS/m. The electric field intensity is given by $\widetilde{E} = ...
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0answers
46 views
Fourier Transform of ribbon's beam Electric Field
I have a monochromatic ribbon beam with $E(x)e^{i(kz-\omega t)}$ being the electric field's amplitude. I want to show that the lowest order approximation in terms of plane waves is
...
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3answers
108 views
Waveguides (in the ocean?)
The speed of sound in the ocean is given by
$$c_s(\theta,z) = 1450 + 4.6\theta - 0.055\theta^2 + 0.016z$$
$\theta$ is the temperature in degrees celcius, and $z$ is the depth. In a simplified model, ...
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1answer
51 views
Power radiated by the sun at different locations
I am wondering can someone help to solve second part which extends first part;
The power radiated by the sun is ${3.9*10^{26}}_{watt}$. The earth orbits the sun in a nearly circular orbit of radius ...
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1answer
70 views
Standing Waves: finding the number of antinodes
A string with a fixed frequency vibrator at one end forms a standing wave with 4 antinodes when under tension T1. When the tension is slowly increased, the standing wave disappears until tension T2 is ...
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2answers
89 views
Calculating phase difference of sound waves
An observer stands 3 m from speaker A and 5 m from speaker B. Both speakers, oscillating in phase, produce waves with a frequency of 250 Hz. The speed of sound in air is 340 m/s. What is the phase ...
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1answer
73 views
Can you “fold” EM or light waves? (i.e) long wave that is reflected by mirror in fragments - like in the game “Snake”
So, I was reading about the Casimir effect. Two mirrors facing each other attract to each other in a vacuum. The reason is due to pressure exerted on those mirrors from the multitude of EM waves (like ...
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1answer
63 views
Phase shift of resonance
For resonance to occur, is it true that the force lags behind the motion by $\pi/2$? I saw some notes written that the motion lags behind the force by $\pi/2$ which makes no sense to me.
As I watched ...
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28 views
The interference of waves and factors that affect cancellation?
If you had two repeated disturbances on the surface of a water, I know interference will occur. However, if I move the two sources of disturbances closer together, why would the 'gaps' between each ...
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1answer
98 views
How does one find the wave velocity and the phase speed?
While I was studying beats, I tried to find a displacement function of any particle in the most generalized form. I ended up with $$y=2A\sin(\pi(t-x/v)(f_1+f_2))\cos(\pi(t-x/v)(f_1-f_2)).$$
Now, ...
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2answers
177 views
Are there “gaps” in light, or will it hit everywhere?
Not sure how to word my question.
Picture a light source in vacuum, so nothing disturbs the light (or similar conditions), 2d.
If I move very, very far away, will it happen that some of the light ...
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1answer
115 views
Eddy current losses in electric steel by harmonics of a magnetic field
I am working on an model of a permanent magnet synchronous machine. Right now I am stuck with calculating the eddy current losses caused by the harmonics of the stator magnetic field in the electrical ...
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3answers
233 views
Validity of naively computing the de Broglie wavelength of a macroscopic object
Many introductory quantum mechanics textbooks include simple exercises on computing the de Broglie wavelength of macroscopic objects, often contrasting the results with that of a proton, etc.
For ...
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2answers
197 views
Can someone explain how water from a garden hose can propagate in a sine/cosine wave?
A video posted on Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uENITui5_jU
How does this phenomenon work? I know he is using frequency to propagate water in a sine/cosine ...
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2answers
75 views
Mechanical Waves
In the book Young and Freedman 13th edition, the wave equation is $y(x, t) = A\,\text{cos}(kx-wt)$ The problem is, I find it hard to console with the fact that $y(x, t) = A\,\text{sin}(wt-kx)$. ...
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3answers
188 views
Are two waves being in phase is the same as saying that the two waves are coherent?
If two waves are coherent, is it the same as them being in phase? Please correct if I'm wrong.
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1answer
329 views
how to determine the direction of a wave propagation?
In the textbook, it said a wave in the form $y(x, t) = A\cos(\omega t + \beta x + \varphi)$ propagates along negative $x$ direction and $y(x, t) = A\cos(\omega t - \beta x + \varphi)$ propagates along ...
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2answers
219 views
Can light waves cause beats?
My question is pretty brief. When two sound waves of nearly same frequencies interfere, we get beats.
But, I have not observed something like that happening in the case of light. In fact, most of the ...
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1answer
230 views
Wave propagation in an incompressible flow
Incompressible approximation of fluid flow is usually known to be lame in modeling the propagation of any disturbance in it, predicting a speed equal to infinity for the propagation of the ...
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1answer
75 views
Acoustic wave equation for a closed sphere
I am looking to model the nodal surfaces in a resonating closed sphere. The sound source is external. What sort of wave equation will reveal the spherical harmonics depending on the frequency, speed ...
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1answer
54 views
what is the difference between constant and changing magnetic and electric fields? How do they occur? How do they form an electromagnetic wave?
what is the difference between constant and changing magnetic and electric fields? How do they occur?
How do they form an electromagnetic wave?
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1answer
119 views
Cylindrical wave
I know that a wave dependent of the radius (cylindrical symmetry), has a good a approximations as $$u(r,t)=\frac{a}{\sqrt{r}}[f(x-vt)+f(x+vt)]$$ when $r$ is big. I would like to know how to deduce ...
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1answer
84 views
Eikonal approximation for wave optics. Why follow the unit vector parallel to the Pointing vector?
The description of the passage from wave optics to geometrical optics claims that light rays are the integral curves of a certain vector field (the Pointing vector direction, normalized to 1). Here ...
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2answers
182 views
What is light, and how can it travel in a vacuum forever in all directions at once without a medium?
I know there are many questions that are similar (maybe identical?). I am not a physicist nor a student - I am just interested in physics and have been watching many physics channels on youtube ...
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1answer
220 views
De broglie equation
What is the de Broglie wavelength?
Also, does the $\lambda$ sign in the de Broglie equation stand for the normal wavelength or the de Broglie wavelength? If $\lambda$ is the normal wavelength of a ...
