Lesson 14: Properties of Waves

Properties of Waves
A wave is a disturbance which carries energy from one location to another.

The material the disturbance travels through is the medium.

The movement of the disturbance is referred to as propagation.

A transverse wave is a wave in which the particles

of the medium move in a direction perpendicular to
the direction of propagation. (The individual rings
of the slinky move up and down as the wave travels
to the right.)

A longitudinal wave is a wave in which the

particles of the medium move in a direction parallel
to the direction of propagation. A longitudinal wave
is also called a pressure wave or a sound wave.

The regions of increased pressure/density are called

compressions.

The regions of decreased pressure/density are called expansions or rarefactions.

Note: Pressure waves can travel through any medium made up of particles – solid, liquid, or gas – but
cannot travel through a particle-less vacuum. The tagline to the movie Alien is correct:

“In space no one can hear you scream.”

Although sound waves are not transverse waves, we

often represent them as transverse waves because
drawing a transverse wave is easier than drawing lots
and lots of air molecules.

Note that in the diagram at right, representing a

sound wave in a column of air, the vertical axis on
the graph is representing the pressure. A compression
corresponds to a crest and a rarefaction to a trough.

The horizontal axis represents equilibrium: what the pressure in the air column would be if there were
no wave. The vertical distance between the equilibrium position and the maxima (the crests and/or the
troughs) is called the amplitude. The higher the amplitude of a wave, the more energy it is carrying.

The horizontal distance between one compression/crest and the next compression/crest (which is the
same as the distance between one rarefaction/trough and the next rarefaction/trough) is called the
wavelength, measured in metres and represented by the Greek letter l (lambda).

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 Lesson 14: Properties of Waves

Practice Question 1

(a) In a sound wave, rarefactions are areas of:

A. high amplitude B. low amplitude C. high pressure D. low pressure

(b) The distance between two rarefactions (or between two compressions) of a longitudinal wave is the:

A. frequency B. period C. speed D. wavelength

(c) Wavelength is measured in:

A. Hz B. m C. s D. m/s

Remember that even though the diagrams on the previous page are static, the waves are in motion.

The time it takes one complete cycle of a wave (one complete wavelength) to pass a single point is
called the period, measured in seconds and represented by T.

Δt
T=
number of wave cycles

However, since many waves (including sound waves) have periods in fractions of seconds, it is often
more relevant to refer to the number of complete wavelengths that pass a single point in one second,
which is called the frequency and is represented by f.

number of wave cycles 1

f= or f =
Δt T

Frequency is measured in units of cycles per second (1/s or s-1), also called Hertz (Hz).

Humans can hear sounds between about 20 Hz and 20 000 Hz. (Most human speech is between 200 Hz
and 8000 Hz, and the ear is most sensitive to frequencies between 1000 Hz and 3500 Hz.)

Sound above 20 000 Hz is called ultrasound.

(A common use of ultrasound is range finding under water: i.e. echolocation or sonar.)

Sound below 20 Hz is called infrasound.

(Humans cannot consciously detect these frequencies but may be sensitive to the vibrations.)

Within the audible range, frequency of a sound wave is commonly referred to as the pitch of the sound.
A sound wave of a single frequency will be heard as a distinct, musical note.

Irregular sound waves will be heard as noise.

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 Lesson 14: Properties of Waves

Practice Question 2

(a) 1 Hz is equal to:

A. 1 s B. 1 s2 C. 1 s-1 D. 1 s-2

(b) A bob on the end of a spring is pulled down and released. If the bob moves up and down 12 times
in 3.6 seconds, determine the period and frequency of the oscillation.

(c) If you increase the frequency of a sound wave:

A. the pitch of the sound will increase B. the pitch of the sound will decrease
C. the intensity of the sound will increase D. the intensity of the sound will decrease

Since the representative distance of a wave is the wavelength and the representative time for a wave is
the period, our “distance over time” equation for speed can also be written:

v= λ or v=λ f
T

Sound waves travel quickly enough that the propagation of the wave may seem almost instantaneous
over short distances. You don't notice a time delay between the movement of the lips of the person
sitting next to you and the words you hear since the speed of a sound wave in air at room temperature
(20oC) is ~344 m/s.

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 Lesson 14: Properties of Waves

The speed at which a wave propagates is dependent upon the properties of the medium, not the
properties of the wave.

The speed of a sound wave in air is dependent on the temperature of the air. Remember that sound
starts as a vibration (e.g. of a tuning fork), which bumps air particles, which move and bump the air
particles next to them, etc. Sound therefore travels faster in warmer air (in which the particles are
faster-moving):
m m/ s
v=332 +( 0.6 o )T
s C

The speed of sound in air is relatively slow compared to the speed of sound in denser materials (liquids
and solids). For example, the speed of sound in water is typically 1500 m/s.

Practice Question 3

(a) Increasing which of the following will increase the speed of a sound wave in air?

A. amplitude of the vibration B. frequency of the vibration

C. temperature of the air D. all of the above

(b) Increasing which of the following will increase the speed of a sound wave in a violin string?

A. amplitude of the vibration B. frequency of the vibration

C. tension in the string D. all of the above

(c) If the temperature of air increases linearly, the speed of sound in air:

A. increases linearly B. decreases linearly

C. increases exponentially D. decreases exponentially

Practice Question 4

(a) The speed of a sound wave in water is _______ the speed of the same sound wave in air.

A. faster than B. slower than

C. the same as D. Sound does not travel through water.

(b) The frequency of a sound wave in water is _______ the frequency of the same sound wave in air.

A. higher than B. lower than

C. the same as D. Sound does not travel through water.

(c) The wavelength of a sound wave in water is _______ the wavelength of the same sound wave in air.

A. longer than B. shorter than

C. the same as D. Sound does not travel through water.

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 Lesson 14: Properties of Waves

Practice Question 5

(a) Determine the speed of a wave with a frequency of 102.5 MHz and a wavelength of 2.9 m.
(Given this speed, what type of wave must the wave be?)

(b) You see a flash of lightning from a storm 1.4 km away and hear the crack of lightning 4.0 s later.
What is the temperature of the air? (Hint: First, find the speed of sound.)

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