4.

3 Wave characteristics
Understandings:
● Wavefronts and rays
● Amplitude and intensity
● Superposition
● Polarization
Applications and skills:
● Sketching and interpreting diagrams involving wavefronts and rays
● Solving problems involving amplitude, intensity and the inverse square law
● Sketching and interpreting the superposition of pulses and waves
● Describing methods of polarization
● Sketching and interpreting diagrams illustrating polarized, reflected and transmitted beams
● Solving problems involving Malus’s law

Guidance:
● Students will be expected to calculate the resultant of two waves or pulses both graphically and
algebraically
● Methods of polarization will be restricted to the use of polarizing filters and reflection from a
non-metallic plane surface

Data booklet reference:

I ∝ A2​
I ∝ x−​ 2
I = I​0​cos2​ ​θ

Nature of science:
Imagination: It is speculated that polarization had been utilized by the Vikings through their use of
Iceland Spar over 1300 years ago for navigation (prior to the introduction of the magnetic
compass). Scientists across Europe in the 17th–19th centuries continued to contribute to wave
theory by building on the theories and models proposed as our understanding developed.

Conceptual Understanding:
All waves can be described by the same sets of mathematical ideas. Detailed knowledge of
one area leads to the possibility of prediction in another.

1
4.4 Wave behaviour
Understandings:
Reflection and refraction
Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection
Diffraction through a single-slit and around objects
Interference patterns
Double-slit interference
Path difference

Applications and skills:

Sketching and interpreting incident, reflected and transmitted waves at boundaries between media
Solving problems involving reflection at a plane interface
Solving problems involving Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection
Determining refractive index experimentally
Qualitatively describing the diffraction pattern formed when plane waves are incident normally on
a single-slit
Quantitatively describing double-slit interference intensity patterns

Guidance:
Quantitative descriptions of refractive index are limited to light rays passing between two or more
transparent media. If more than two media, only parallel interfaces will be considered
Students will not be expected to derive the double-slit equation
Students should have the opportunity to observe diffraction and interference patterns arising from
more than
one type of wave

Data booklet reference:

Nature of science:
Competing theories: The conflicting work of Huygens and Newton on their theories of light and the
related debate between Fresnel, Arago, and Poisson are demonstrations of two theories that
were valid yet flawed and incomplete. This is a historical example of the progress of science that
led to the acceptance of the duality of the nature of light. (1.9)

Conceptual Understanding:
Waves interact with media and each other in a number of ways that can be unexpected and
useful

2
 Wave Characteristics concept map
Supporting questions
● Is mathematics an intrinsic property of nature or a human construct fitted to observations?

wavefronts intensity and distance intensity and amplitude

inverse square law principle of constructive

superposition interference

destructive interference polarisation malus law

3
Wave Behaviour concept map
Supporting questions
●

reflection refraction total internal reflection

diffraction interference path difference

young's double slit

4
4.3 & 4.4 Concepts
Term Definition Use it in a sentence/ diagram/equation

Coherent

Wavefront

Ray

Principle of
superposition

Constructive

Destructive

Polarised

Unpolarised

Plane (as in
plane polarised)

Intensity

Intensity square
Law

In phase

Out of phase

5
Wavefront

Ray

Reflection

Refraction

Total internal
reflection

Critical angle

Normal line

Refractive index

Angle of
incidence

Angle of
refraction

Angle of
reflection

Medium

Refractive index

Monochromatic

6
Wavefronts and rays
A wavefront is a line that shows where all the particles are oscillating in phase. A ray is a line that is
drawn at 90 degrees to a wave front.

Shown are examples of waves, label which lines show wavefronts and rays.

Huygen’s principle is a description of how

waves propagate. Describe the princple:

Reflection of waves
When a wave hits a barrier it is reflected. This can be shown as a ray diagram to locate the image.

What type of image is formed? State the laws

of reflection:

7
 Draw the incident and reflected wavefronts
when the incident wavefronts arrive at
approximately 45​o​ to the normal.

Reflection and transmission of waves at boundaries

Use the following link to invesigate what happens when wave pulses are incident on different
boundaries. ​https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/reflect/reflect.html​. Summarise your findings
below and include any phase change that occur:

Incident pulse on hard boundary: Reflected pulse:

Incident pulse on soft boundary: Reflected pulse:

Incident pulse from less dense to more dense Reflected and transmitted pulse:
material:

Incident pulse from more dense to less dense Reflected and transmitted pulse:
material:

8
Refraction of waves
When a wave passes from one medium to another the velocity changes. If the wave hits the
boundary at an angle it will also change direction. This is called refraction.

Use Huygen’s principle to explain why waves

change direction during refraction:

Use an analogy to help you explain:

Describe what happens to wavespeed, wavelength and frequency when waves go from one
medium to another as in the diagrams above (include ratio of speed and wavelength in your
answer):

EM waves travel fastest (​c =​ 3.0 x 10​8​ ms​-1​) How fast does light travel in water?
when in a vacuum. When travelling through a
substance, however, they move at a slower
speed. The ​refractive index​ (​n)​ of a
substance is the ratio of the speed of EM How fast does light travel in glass?
waves in a vacuum to the speed they actually
travel at in that substance (​v​). That is:

How fast does light travel in diamond?

9
 Show that

for light travelling from a vacuum to a

medium of refractive index n:

Questions
1 Yellow light is travelling from crown glass (n=1.52) into water (n=1.33). It is incident upon
the interface at an angle of 33.0º to the normal. What is the angle of refraction?

2 A green light ray travels from air into diamond (n=2.42). If the angle of refraction is 14.3​o​,
what was the angle of incidence?

3 In the human eye most of the refraction takes place due to the change of medium from air
to the cornea (n=1.34). Explain why it is impossible for a person to see objects clearly
when swimming underwater:

4 Light rays travel from water (n=1.33) to glass (n=1.45) at an angle of 60​o​. What angle do
they refract in the glass?

10
5 A water wave travelling at 20ms​–1​ enters a shallow region where its velocity is 15ms​–1​. If the
angle of incidence of the direction water wave to the shallow region is 50°, what is the angle
of refraction?

6 A water wave with wavelength 30cm travelling with velocity 0.5ms​−1​ meets the straight
boundary to a shallower region at an angle of incidence 30°. If the velocity in the shallow
region is 0.4ms​−1​, calculate:
(a) the frequency of the wave.
(b) the wavelength of the wave in the shallow region.
(c) the angle of refraction.

7 A water wave encounters a shelf that divides the water into two separate depths. The
water to the right of the shelf is deeper than that to the left of the shelf. The angle
between the wavefronts in the shallow water and the shelf is 30°. The speed of the
wave in the shallow water is 15 cms​–1​ and in the deeper water is 20 cms​–1​. For the
wave in the deeper water, determine the angle between the normal to the wavefronts
and the shelf. Sketch the wavefronts in the deep water:

11
Total internal reflection

Use the diagrams to explain total internal Show that:

reflection (TIR). What are the conditions for
TIR? What is critical angle? What is the critical
angle for glass? What is the critical angle for
diamond?

Imagine you’re sitting on the bottom of the

swimming pool. When you look up what do you
see? Explain:

Explain how optic fibre works and describe

some uses:

12
Questions
1
Explain why substances with a high refractive index like diamond, sparkle.

2
A pulse of white light is sent straight down a fibre optic cable 1 km long. The refractive index
for blue light is 1.639 and for red light 1.621. What time interval will there be between the
two components when they reach the far end?

3
Calculate the critical angle of an optical fibre:
a) without cladding if the glass has a refractive index of 1.56.
b) when cladding is added of ​n​ = 1.49
c) what advantage is this?

4
The refractive index for light of wavelength 400 nm passing through a type of glass is 1.470;
when light of wavelength 750 nm passes through the glass the measured refractive index is
1.455.
a) To what colours do these wavelengths correspond?

b) Which of these kinds of light travels faster in the glass?

c) What is the ratio of the speeds of the two colours in air?

13
Diffraction of waves
When a wave passes through an opening or passes by an object, the edge of the wave will change
direction such that a portion of the wave curves around the object. This phenomenon is called
diffraction.

When a wave passes through an opening, the effects of diffraction

become more obvious as the size of the opening approaches the
wavelength of the wave. Diffraction is best modelled using Huygens’
Principle, which explains the propagation of waves in terms of the
creation of successive point sources along each wavefront.

Describe what is meant by the ​diffraction​ of a wave:

Electromagnetic radiation of frequency 7.5 x 10​9​ Hz is directed towards a slit of width 6.0 cm.
Determine the wavelength of the radiation:

Explain whether or not the radiation will be diffracted at the slit:

14
Intensity
The energy of a wave decreases with distance from a source - this is called attenuation.

The total energy in a wave is proportional to

the square of the amplitude as shown below:

E​T = ½
​ mω​2​x​0​2

As power is energy / time then power also

relates directly to the square of the amplitude
of a wave.

Intensity is defined as the power per unit area:

I=P/A

We can therefore say that the Intensity is

proportional to the square of the amplitude:

A water wave has a wave height of 0.02 m

and an intensity of 10 Wm​-2​. If the wave height
doubles to 0.04 m, what will the intensity now
be?

Explain the inverse square law for intensity of

waves:

Write an equation:

If you think of a light source such as a light If the intensity of a seismic P-wave 100 km
bulb and you are 2m away what would from the source is 1.0 x 10​6 ​Wm​-2​, what is the
happen to the intensity that you receive if you intensity 400 km from the source?
were 4m and then 8m away?

15
Polarization
All electromagnetic waves consist of 2 fields a magnetic and an electric field that oscillate
perpendicular to each other. The lines that are drawn represent the electric field.

What is unpolarized light?

Light can be polarized by passing it through a

polarizing filter. What is polarized light?

If unpolarized light passes through two

polarized filters held with their plane of
polarization at 90​0​ to each other what is
observed?

Why does the intensity of polarized light

reduce by half?

Light becomes partially polarized as it reflects

Light can also be polarized using reflection off nonmetallic surfaces such as glass, water,
or a road surface. The polarized light consists
of waves that vibrate in a plane which is
parallel to the reflecting surface.

Use a polarizing filter to look at the reflections

on a classroom window. The reflected light is
partially polarized. Light reflected at one
particular angle is completely polarized. This
is called the Brewster angle.

16
 Malus’s Law
When polarized light passes through a second
polarizer (called an analyser), the reduction in
intensity depends on the angle between the
polarization planes of the two polarizers. If the
original intensity of the polarized light was ​I0​​ ,
the intensity passing through the analyser will
be given by the equation:

​ ​I​0​ cos​2 ​θ
I=

Explain why this is the case:

Polarized light has intensity I​0​. If the angle of

the analyser is 60​0​, what is the transmitted
intensity?

Polarized light has intensity I​0​. If the angle of

the analyser is 45​0​, what is the transmitted
intensity?

If transmitted intensity is I, and the angle of the

analyser is 45​0​, what is the intensity of the
original unpolarized light?

Questions
1 What angle should the transmission axis of the Polaroid make with the plane of polarization
of the beam in order to reduce the intensity of the beam by 50%?

2 Unpolarized light passes through a sheet of Polaroid whose transmission axis is parallel to
the ​y-​ axis. It then passes through a second Polaroid whose transmission axis is at 30° to
the ​y-​ axis. At what angle is the plane of polarization of the emergent beam?

3 A polarized beam of light is incident on a sheet of Polaroid. The angle between the plane of
polarization and the transmission axis is 20°. If the intensity of the incident beam is 8.0 ×
10​-4​ W m​-2​, what is the intensity of the transmitted beam?

4 Unpolarised light of intensity 2.0 Wm​-2​ is incident on a polarizer? What is the intensity of
the polarized light that emerges from the polarizer?

This polarized light now meets a second polarizer at 45​o​ to the first. What is the intensity of
the transmitted beam?

17
Interference
When waves from 2 or more sources arrive at the same place and time, interference occurs.
What is the principle of superposition?

Conditions for constructive interference: Conditions for destructive interference:

Waves arrive in or out of phase a particular point due to travelling different distances, so having
a PATH DIFFRENCE. Where the combined wave has little or zero amplitude we call it a node.
The points where the resultant waves have a large amplitude are called antinodes.

Antinodal lines in red: Nodal lines in blue:

What is the phase difference for the waves What is the phase difference for the waves
arriving at P? arriving at R?
What is the path difference at P? What is the path difference at R?

What is the phase difference for the waves What is the phase difference for the waves
arriving at Q? arriving at S?
What is the path difference at Q? What is the path difference at S?

What is the path difference anywhere along What is the path difference anywhere along
an antinodal line? an antinodal line?
The condition for constructive interference is: The condition for destructive interference is:

18
Questions
1 The diagram below shows the displacement–time graphs for two waves ​A​ and ​B​.

a. ​What is the phase difference between the two waves?

b. ​The two waves ​A​ and ​B​ are combined.​ ​Name the type of interference that will occur.

2 The diagram below shows an arrangement used to demonstrate the interference of water
waves.

a. ​Constructive interference occurs at point ​A​. What is the path difference of the waves
from the gaps ​S​1​ and ​S​2​?

b​. The water waves have a wavelength of 3.0 cm. Determine the path difference for the
waves arriving at point ​B​. Name the type of interference taking place at this point.

19
Young’s double slit experiment
In 1801 Thomas Young devised and performed an experiment to measure the wavelength of light.
He used a narrow beam of sunlight and split it with a narrow piece of card. He then analysed the
split beam on a screen and from this he was able to determine the wavelength of light.

What does coherent mean?

Explain why a fringe pattern of light

and dark can be seen on the screen:

The same experiment can be performed today using a The average fringe spacing, s is
laser light and a narrow double slit. given by the equation:

What do all the symbols mean?

Label the diagram to show.

Use the diagram below to show where this equation comes from:

20
Questions
1 Slit Separation, d = 0.250 mm
Distance from slits to screen, D = 9.78 m
Distance from central antinode to fourth antinode = 10.2 cm
Use this data to determine the wavelength of light used.

2 Two slits with a separation of 8.5 × 10​-5​ m create an interference pattern on a screen 2.3m
away. If the tenth bright fringe is a distance of 12cm from the central maximum, what is
the wavelength of light used in the experiment?

3 Monochromatic light falls on two very narrow slits 0.040 mm apart. Successive fringes on a
screen 5.00 m away are 5.5 cm apart near the center of the pattern. What is the
wavelength and frequency of the light ?

For the same set up as above a different laser is used with a shorter wavelength,
Describe​ and ​explain​ what would happen to the interference pattern.

21
5 A microwave source is directed towards a metal
plate with two narrow vertical slits. A receiver is
slowly moved along the line ​XY​ as shown in the
diagram.

Explain why the receiver registers a series of

maxima and minima.

The wavelength of the microwaves is 2.8 cm.

The separation between the slits is 4.0 cm and the receiver is a distance of 80 cm
from the slits. Calculate the separation between adjacent maxima.

Describe the effect on your answer when:

the separation between the slits is halved

the distance between the slits and the receiver is doubled.

6 In a double-slit experiment it is found that blue light of wavelength 460nm gives a

second-order maximum at a certain location on the screen. What wavelength of visible light
would have a minimum at the same location?

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Exam question
1

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