THE GAUDIUM SCHOOL

GRADE 10/ PHYSICS/REVISION

/(2022-23)

General Wave Properties

Waves

A wave transfers energy from one place to

without the transfer of particles in the medium. Rather, individual particles vibrate (oscillate) about fixed
positions instead.
Wave motion can be easily exemplified by vibrations in:
Ropes

Springs

Water

Types of waves
There are two types of waves:

 Longitudinal waves
 Transverse waves

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In a longitudinal wave (such as sound), the particles vibrate parallel to the direction of the wave. This leads
to compressions (particles are closer together than normal) and rarefactions (particles are further apart than
normal)
In a transverse wave (such as light), particles vibrate perpendicular to the direction of the wave. This leads
to a series of peaks (particles are higher than normal) and troughs (particles are lower than normal).

Some important terms that you must be aware of are:

 Wavelength is the distance between adjacent particles that are at the same point in their
vibration
 In a transverse wave, it is the distance between two adjacent peaks or troughs
 In a longitudinal wave, it is the distance between two adjacent compressions or
rarefactions
 Amplitude is the maximum displacement of particles from rest position
 This is a bit tricky to measure for longitudinal waves
 But for transverse waves, it is simply the distance between the rest position to the
peak
 Velocity of the wave is the distance traveled per second, and is measured in m/s
 Frequency of the wave is the number of complete waves passing a point per second, and is
measured in hertz (Hz)
 Wavefronts can be represented as lines which are always perpendicular to the direction of wave
travel. The distance between one wavefront to the next is the wavelength
Combining velocity, frequency and wavelength produces this wave equation:

Reflection, refraction and diffraction

Reflection
When waves hit a plane surface, it will reflect off it. The frequency, speed or wavelength of the wave
remains unchanged in reflection.
A ripple tank has a vibrating bar which can generate waves of varying frequency in water.
We can observe what happens when the water waves hit a barrier:

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Take note that the wavefronts are 90° to the direction of travel of the wave

Refraction
A wave will become refracted if it travels from one medium to another medium with a different density.
The speed of the wave changes, and that causes a change in direction of the wave.
Water travels more slowly in shallow water compared to deep water. We can observe what happens to water
waves as it goes from deep to shallow:

As you can see, the wavelength decreases and the direction shifts as the waves hit the more shallow side.

Diffraction
Diffraction is the process by which waves spread out as a result of passing through a narrow gap or across an
edge of an object.
As water waves pass through the gap, you can observe the spreading of the new wavefronts:

The extent of diffraction is dependent on the size of the gap in comparison to the wavelength of the wave.

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Diffraction can also occur as waves hit the edge of a barrier.
The longer the wavelength the greater the diffraction that occurs.

LIGHT
Reflection of light
Just like any other wave, light can be reflected off a plane surface. A basic mirror uses the principles of
reflection to allow us to see various objects through it.

Basic principles of reflection

There are some key principles regarding the reflection of light rays:

 The incident ray, reflected ray, and the normal all lie in the same plane
 The incoming light ray is called the ‘incident ray’
 The reflected light ray is called the ‘reflected ray’
 The normal is the imaginary perpendicular line on the mirror surface
 The angles of the rays are measured in relation to the normal
 The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal
 The angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the normal
 The angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection

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Reflection through a plane mirror
A mirror reflects light rays that come from various objects. These reflected rays enter our eyes and allow us
to see these objects through the mirror.
We can construct a ray diagram to demonstrate how the image of an object is formed inside a mirror:

 Trace at least 2 incidents rays from an object

 Trace the corresponding reflected rays ensuring that you follow the law of reflection (r=i)
 Trace back the reflected rays, and the lines should converge at a single point behind the mirror
 That convergence point is where the image is located
 If everything went smoothly, the distance from the real object to the mirror should be the same
as the distance from the mirror to the image (d = d’)

You need to be able to perform simple constructions, measurements, and calculations for reflections by a
plane mirror.
The properties of an image inside a mirror are:

 Virtual image
 Real images are those where light actually converges, whereas virtual images are
locations from where light ‘appears’ to have converged when traced backwards (like
in our diagram above)
 Same size as object
 Same distance away from mirror as object
 Laterally inverted

Refraction of light
Refractive index
Light travels at different speeds depending on the refractive index of a medium. Every material/medium
has a different refractive index, and this value is determined by how fast light travels within it.

 The higher the refractive index, the slower light travels

 The lower the refractive index, the faster light travels
Generally, denser materials have a higher refractive index than less dense materials. The equation for
refractive index is as follows:

Two other very important equations are:

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Continue reading, as we will discuss more in depth about the angle of incidence, angle of refraction, and the
critical angle!

Refraction of light rays through mediums

Consider light traveling from medium A to medium B. Two scenarios are possible:

1. Medium A has a lower refractive index than medium B

2. Medium A has a higher refractive index than medium B
Air has a lower refractive index than glass. Consider light entering a glass block from the top and leaving
through the bottom.

 As light enters the glass block, it goes from low to high index
 As light escapes the block, it goes from high to low index

Here are some important notes about the diagram above:

 i = angle of incidence
 r = angle of refraction
 Light slows down as it enters a higher index material, therefore bends towards the normal
 Light speeds up as it enters a lower index material, therefore bends away from the normal
If light ever enters another medium at exactly 90° (along the normal) then light changes speed but does not
change direction.

Critical angle and total internal reflection

Consider light rays going from a medium of higher to lower index. As discussed above, light rays will
bend away from the normal.
As the angle of incidence increases, the angle of refraction also increases. However, there is a limit to this:
The angle of refraction cannot exceed 90°. After all, how could it? If light bent more than that then it
would actually just reflect back into the medium.

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Therefore the critical angle is the angle of incidence at which the angle of refraction is exactly 90°.
Recall that refractive index (n) = 1 / sin c
Total internal reflection is when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle and all the light gets
reflected back into the medium instead of being refracted.
Total internal reflection used in optical fibres
The concept of total internal reflection is used in optical fibres. An optic fibre has a thin glass cylindrical
core with a transparent material of a lower refractive index (cladding).
The cladding has a lower refractive index than the core, meaning total internal reflection will occur for all
rays that hit the boundary between the core and the cladding at an angle larger than the critical angle.

Thin converging lens

When parallel light rays from a distance source pass through a convex converging lens, they are focused at a
single point called the principle focus.
The imaginary horizontal line which lies perpendicular to the lens is called the principle axis, and the
distance from the lens centre to the principle focus is called the focal length.
If a beam of parallel light passes through a convex lens, this is the effect that you would get:

Drawing ray diagrams

You are expected to trace rays from an object through a convex lens in order to determine the position of the
image.
As we saw above, all convex lenses will have a certain focal point. The focal point and focal length is
exactly the same on either side of the lens.
Start by drawing these components in order:
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  Principle axis
 Convex lens
 Two focal length’s on either side of the lens

Consider an object being placed on the left hand side of the diagram. There are three possible positions:

 Beyond 2F
 Between 2F and F
 Between F and the lens
The resulting image property of the object will be different depending on the object position.
Beyond 2F
From the top of the object, you draw three rays as shown of the diagram. The point at which these 3 lines
meet is where the object is positioned.

When the object is beyond 2F, the image is real, inverted, and diminished (smaller than the object).
Between 2F and F

When the object is between 2F and F, the image is real, inverted, and magnified (larger than the object).
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Between F and the lens centre

When the object is between F and the lens centre, the image is virtual, upright, and magnified

White light and dispersion

White light is a complex combination of all of the different wavelengths of the visible spectrum.
Each of the wavelengths have a different colour i.e green has a wavelength of approx 500nm, red has a
wavelength of approx 700nm etc.
Light of a single frequency is called monochromatic light, and combining all of these different individual
wavelengths of monochromatic light result in ‘white light’.
We can reverse this process by ‘splitting apart’ white light into its different components. This is called
dispersion, and it can be easily done using a glass prism.

Electromagnetic spectrum
All electromagnetic waves can travel through vacuum. They all travel at the speed of 3 X 10^8 m/s in
vacuum and very close to this value through air.
In other materials however, they travel a bit more slower. Each selection of the electromagnetic spectrum
has is own uses and features:

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The higher the frequency, the higher the energy of the radiation. Therefore radio waves have the lowest
energy and gamma radiation has the highest energy within the spectrum.
Sound
Production of sound

Sound is a result of vibrating objects that cause a vibration in air molecules that lead to a series of
compressions and rarefactions.

Recall the sound is a longitudinal wave. Compressions are when air molecules are closest together and
rarefactions are when they are furthest apart.

We hear sound when the sound waves reach our ear and cause our ear drums to vibrate. We can hear
frequencies from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz – Any more or any less is very difficult for our ears to pick up.

Remember that all waves (including sound) have a frequency and an amplitude:

 The frequency of a wave is the number of waves that pass a fixed spot per second (unit=Hz).
The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch of the sound.
 The amplitude of the wave is the maximum displacement of the vibrating particles. The larger
the amplitude, the louder the sound will be.

Speed of sound

Speed of sound through various mediums

Sound waves cannot travel through vacuum. They must be transmitted through vibrations of particles within
a medium. The closer the particles are within the medium, the faster sound will travel. For example, the
speed of sound is:

 330 m/s in gases i.e. air

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  1500 m/s in liquids i.e. water
 5000 m/s in metals i.e. metals

Air is a gas so particles are very spread out, which is why sound does not travel very fast. Metals on the
other hand are generally solids, and particles are very closer together allowing fast transmission of sound
waves.

Determining the speed of sound in air

Above we state that the speed of sound is approximately 330 m/s in air. We can experimentally prove this by
using this set-up:

Two microphones are separated by exactly 1m. They are connected to a digital timer that starts when it gets
signal from microphone 1 and stops when it gets signal from microphone 2.

A hammer is used to hit a metal block which generates sound. The sound waves will hit microphone 1 first
which starts the timer, and then hit microphone 2 which stops the timer.

Since the microphones are separated by 1m, the sound has traveled 1m in 0.003 seconds.

Since speed = distance / time, 1/0.003 = 330 m/s

Echoes

Just like light waves can be reflected off a boundary, so can sound waves. When sound gets reflected off a
surface, it generates an echo. V= 2r/t where v-speed of sound; r-distance between source and obstracle; t-
time

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