Waves and Oscillations:

Periodic Motion ( T )
De nition: A motion that repeats itself over and over is referred to as periodic motion; the time
taken for one complete cycle of periodic motion is called the Period ( in seconds, s)

Frequency ( f )
De nition: the Frequency is the number of complete cycles of periodic motions per second (in
Hertz, Hz or s−1)
Equation: 1 / T

If the period of an oscillation, T is very small, corresponding to rapid oscillations, the

corresponding frequency, will be large, due to frequency and time period being inversely
proportional.

Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)

De nition: When the period for each complete cycle of oscillation is constant, the oscillation is
called simple harmonic, therefore T is constant.

KEY TERMS
Time Period : time taken for one complete oscillation.
Amplitude : the maximum displacement from the centre of the oscillation /
the equilibrium position.

• The bob has its maximum gravitational potential energy (GPE) at

maximum displacement.
• At this point the velocity is zero for an instant. Thus the kinetic energy
(KE) is zero.
• The bob has its maximum velocity as it passes through the centre of
oscillation.
• Thus its KE is maximum and its GPE is a minimum.

In any oscillation there is a constant interchange

between kinetic and potential energy.
The total energy remains constant provided no
energy is lost from the system. The total energy
is constant provided there is no damping.
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 ENERGY ASSUMPTIONS
• A ‘closed system’ means that no energy can be lost to the surroundings, therefore energy is
conserved.
• We can state that energy is lost to the surroundings, but total energy is always conserved, so
here we can state the system is losing energy, but the surroundings are gaining energy, this
process is known as damping.

Damping
De nition: When an oscillating system loses energy to its surroundings / the surroundings gain
energy when the oscillating system begins to lose energy.

SOURCES OF ENERGY LOSS

• Air resistance (or more generally, resistance to motion due to the medium in which the body is
oscillating)
• Friction at the point of oscillation

Damping results in the amplitude of the oscillations decaying

(getting smaller) over a period of time. An ‘ideal’ pendulum
bob, or other oscillating system will not lose energy to its
surroundings, it’s amplitude remains constant.
Only ‘real’ systems are Damped.
Ideal’ systems are closed and do not lose (or gain) energy –
so they do not experience Damping.

Hooke’s Law
De nition: If we push or pull the spring a distance x from equilibrium, it will push or pull back with
a Restoring Force.

This direct proportionality between distance from equilibrium and force is the key feature of a
mass–spring system that leads to simple harmonic motion.

The force exerted by a spring is opposite in direction to its displacement from equilibrium; this
accounts for the minus sign in In general, a restoring force is one that always points toward the
equilibrium position.

Equation: F = -kx, Force = - the Spring Constant or Force Constant * Displacement

At the springs maximum displacement, (A and –A) it will

produce the maximum restoring force.

The Work Done (Energy) to push the spring is Force x

Distance but the Force is not constant for any x, (F = -kx),
therefore we can not calculate energy using this equation.
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 WORK DONE FOR SHM:
• Area under the Force / Distance graph.
• Calculus:

This is the Elastic Potential Energy of the spring - as a

function of x, So, the maximum elastic potential
energy in the spring is:

Remembering that in a closed ‘ideal’ system, the Total Energy of the

spring = KE + U in a constant interchange, so we understand that as the mass
passes through equilibrium ( x = 0 ), and when F = 0 and U = 0, all the energy s
kinetic ( 1/2 mv^2 )

TOTAL ENEGRY CALCULATIONS

Springs and Simple Harmonic Motion

Equation: x ( t ) = A cos ( 2 / T ) t
Unit: m

ω is the ‘angular frequency’. It is the rate of change of an angle θ in

radians per second.

Equation: ω = 2 f = 2 / T
ω is also called the angular velocity because it is described in radians s^-1 whereas the ‘linear’
velocity ( ) is described in meters s^-1.

The linear velocity is related to the angular velocity

like this.

After attaching the mass m, the spring will extend to a

new equilibrium position.

So the weight of the mass will balance with the restoring force of the
spring, Newton’s Second Law ( F = ma )

So: =−
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 The displacement of the mass from the equilibrium
position is a harmonic function that depends on time.

Velocity is the rst derivative of

displacement with respect to time.

Acceleration is the second derivative of

displacement with respect to time.

Newton’s second law can be applied to the restoring force of the spring giving us -kx = ma

By substituting the harmonic expressions for x(t)

and a(t) we are able to derive this equation

Through cancelling terms we get this equation, which would then give us the nal end result:

So, the angular velocity can be derived from the mass and spring constant

And the period of the SHM can be derived from the mass and spring constant

So, as = , the Total Energy in the spring can be given by either:

The energy contained in an oscillating

system is proportional to the Square of
the Amplitude.

Schr dinger Wave function

This special case is for the position of a
single particle, say an electron =
, in an environment with a ,
in one dimension as a function of

, is known as the ‘Wave Function’. It tells us something about the

probability of nding the particle (m) at position x and time t. ħ is a constant known as the
reduced Planck Constant
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 Waves
Waves: they transfer energy; a series of oscillations, all connected to each other, is called a wave.

ADDITONAL PROPERTIES
• Wavelength, λ
• Phase, φ
• Di raction
• Superposition
• Interference
Frequency ( f ): is the number of complete cycles per second ( 1 / T )

WAVE TYPES
• Sound waves
• Light waves
• EM waves
• Mechanical waves
• Matter waves
WAVES MAY BE
• Mechanical (e.g. sound, pressure or water)
• Electromagnetic (e.g. light, radio, microwave)
• Matter wave (e.g. atomic interactions, quantum mechanics)
Mechanical waves: they are caused by oscillating particles passing on vibrational energy to
neighbouring particles in a medium, they can be transverse, longitudinal (or in some cases, a
slight mixture of both)

Transverse Waves:
If the particles oscillate at right angles to the direction in which
the energy is transmitted through the medium the waves are
transverse.

Longitudinal waves:
If the particles oscillate parallel to the direction in which the
energy is transmitted through the medium the waves are
longitudinal.

Waves moving in two or three dimensions form wavefronts.

Each line represents the crest or trough of a wave.
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• The maximum displacement of a particle in a wave from its rest position is the amplitude (crest
or trough of the wave)
• Particles P and T are oscillating in phase
• Particles P and Q are out of phase by 90o. They have a phase di erence of 90o or π/2 (φ = 90°)
• Particles R and T are in anti-phase. The have a phase di erence of 180o or π. (φ = 180°)
Wavelength ( λ ): is the distance between two neighbouring particles which are oscillating in
phase / It is the distance between adjacent crests or troughs.

One complete cycle of oscillation produces one wave, the same as the frequency of oscillation.

The wave speed, c, is related to the frequency and the wavelength. It is the
distance moved in meters per second.

Harmonic Wave Functions:

As waves are a series of periodic oscillations, we can easily model them using maths.

represents a wave, with frequency, f, wavelength λ and speed v,

and amplitude A, which causes a displacement x ( t ) as a
function of time.

We see this more clearly when we re-write the same equation.

Wave Intensity
Intensity: is a measure of the energy transferred, by the wave, per second per unit area. Or the
power per unit area.

Intensity has the units: Watts per metre squared, −2

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 As we saw earlier the energy (and therefore Intensity) of a wave is proportional to the square of its
amplitude: ∝ ^2

When the wave energy comes from a point source the wavefronts spread
out equally in all directions, forming spherical surfaces.

The surface area of a sphere, radius r, is given by this equation.

If the source has power P, then at a distance r from it the energy is

spread over an area 4πr^2.

Thus the intensity at r meters from the source is as follows; this is an

example of an inverse square law. If the distance from the source is doubled the intensity
decreases by a factor of four.

Re ection
Law of Re ection: The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of re ection.

Law of Re ection: When light re ects a phase change

can occur (depending on refractive indices of each
medium)

Refraction
Wavefronts passing from one medium to another have their speed (therefore their wavelength)
changed. This causes a change in direction.

The speed of a wave in a medium is determine by the medium’s

refractive index, n.
This is called ‘Snell’s Law’
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When a wave passes from a less dense medium into a denser medium, it will slow down and
bend (refract) towards the normal.

When a wave passes from a denser medium into a less dense medium, it will speed up and bend
(refract) away from the normal ( r > i always )

The critical angle is the angle at which the wave no longer exits the medium, it travels along its
boundary instead.

At the critical angle the refracted waves travel at 90o to the normal. So the law of
refraction gives.

At angles greater than the critical angle total internal re ection occurs.

Total internal re ection: it is when the wave never exits through the side of the slower medium
into the faster medium.

Note that n2 / n1 MUST be less than unity so the wave must be travelling from a slow medium to
a faster one (n1 < n2)
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