Chapter 19 Vibrations and Waves.ppt

Dr. Jie Zou PHY 1071 Chapter 19 Vibrations and Waves Vibration of a pendulum Wave Description Wave Motion Transverse Waves Longitudinal Waves General definitions of vibrations and waves Vibration: in a general sense, anything that switches back and forth, to and fro, side to side, in and out, off and on, loud and soft, or up and down is vibrating. A vibration is a wiggle in time. Wave: a wiggle in both space and time is a wave. A wave extends from one place to another. Vibrations and waves: the source of all waves is something that is vibrating. Waves are propagations of vibrations throughout space. Examples of vibrations and waves Examples of vibrations and waves: Light and sound: they are both vibrations that propagate throughout space as waves. Light and sound are two very different kinds of waves: Sound is the propagation of vibrations through a material medium. If there is no medium to vibrate, then no sound is possible. Sound cannot travel in a vacuum. Light can travel through a vacuum. Light can pass through many materials, but it needs none. This is evident when light from the sun travels through the vacuum of space to reach us on Earth. Let’s start our study of vibrations and waves by considering the motion of a simple pendulum. Vibration of a pendulum Pendulums swing to and fro with regularity. A complete to-and-fro oscillation is one vibration. The time of a to-and-fro vibration (or swing) is called the period of the pendulum. A long pendulum has a longer period than a short pendulum; that is, it swings to and fro less frequently than a short pendulum. Wave description Crests and troughs: the high points of a wave are called crests, and the low points are called troughs. Midpoint of vibration: the straight dashed line represents the “home” position, or midpoint of the vibration. The midpoint position is also the equilibrium position. Amplitude: the distance from the midpoint to the crest (or trough). The amplitude equals the maximum displacement from e