Waves

General Properties of Waves

●​ Progressive waves carry energy from one place to another without transferring
matter.
Two Types of Progressive Waves

●​ Transverse waves
●​ Longitudinal waves

●​ Wavelength (
●​ λ
●​ λ): Distance between 2 successive crests/ troughs.
●​ Frequency (
●​ f
●​ f): Number of complete waves created per second, measured in hertz (Hz).
●​ Wave speed (
●​ v)
●​ v): Distance moved by a crest or any point on the wave in 1 second.
●​ Amplitude (
●​ a
●​ a): Height of a crest or depth of a trough from the undisturbed or mean position.
●​ Phase: Particles in ‘phase’ have the same speed and direction of vibration.
Wave equation
 ●​ Faster vibration produces a shorter wavelength.
●​ Therefore, a higher frequency results in a smaller wavelength.
●​ Wave equation:
v=fλ
v=fλ

Wavefronts and rays

●​ Wavefront: A straight line where the wave has the same phase at all points.
●​ Ray: Line drawn at right angles to a wavefront showing the direction of travel.

Reflection of a wave at a plane surface

●​ Straight water waves (transverse waves) hit a metal strip in a ripple tank at
●​ x
●​ x° angle.
●​ Angle of incidence
●​ (i)
●​ (i) and angle of reflection
●​ (r)
 ●​ (r)are both
●​ x
●​ x° .
●​ Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection:
●​ (i=r)
●​ (i=r)
●​ Same wavelength as reflected wave

●​ Same wave speed Refraction

●​ Continuous straight waves in shallow water have shorter wavelengths than in
deeper water.
●​ Waves in shallower water have a smaller speed and smaller wavelength.
●​ When waves move from shallow to dense regions, they bend towards the
normal, and when they move from dense to shallow regions, they bend away
from the normal.

Diffraction

●​ Straight water waves meet narrow gaps and create circular wavefronts.
●​ Diffraction can also occur at the edges of obstacles causing wave spreading.
Reflection and Refraction of Light
●​ Light travels in a path called a ray.
●​ A beam is a stream of light shown by several rays.
●​ Beams can be parallel, diverging, or converging.

Speed of Light

●​ The speed of light is about 1 million times faster than the speed of sound.
●​ The speed of light is
●​ 3×108
●​ 3×10
●​ 8
●​ meters per second.
Reflection of light against a plane mirror

●​ The normal is perpendicular to the mirror at the point where the incident ray
strikes.
 ●​ The angle of incidence
●​ (i)
●​ (i) is between the incident ray and the normal.
●​ The angle of reflection
●​ (r)
●​ (r) is between the reflected ray and the normal.
The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

Real and Virtual Images

●​ A real image can be produced on a screen and is formed by rays that pass
through the screen.
●​ A virtual image cannot be formed on a screen.
●​ A virtual image is produced by rays that seem to come from it but do not pass
through it.
●​ The image in a plane mirror is virtual. Rays from an object are reflected at the
mirror and appear to come from a point behind the mirror where the rays would
 meet when extrapolated (extended) backward.

Refractive Index

●​ Light refracts due to speed change when entering a different medium.

●​ In air, light travels at
●​ 300,000
●​ 300,000
●​ km/s
●​ km/s (
●​ 3×10⁸
●​ 3×10⁸
●​ m/s
●​ m/s)
●​ In glass, it slows to 200,000
●​ km/s
 ●​ km/s (2 × 10⁸
●​ m/s
●​ m/s)
●​ Refractive index
●​ (n)
●​ (n) is the ratio of light speed in air to light speed in the medium.
●​ For glass:
●​ n=300,000km/s200,000km/s=32=1.5
●​ n=
●​ 200,000km/s
●​ 300,000km/s
●​ ​

●​ =
●​ 2
●​ 3
●​ ​

●​ =1.5
●​ Refractive index is the ratio of speeds of a wave in two different regions.
●​ Experimentally it is true that
●​ n=sin⁡(i)sin⁡(r)
●​ n=
●​ sin(r)
●​ sin(i)
●​ ​

●​ where
●​ (i)
●​ (i) is the angle in air and
●​ (r)
●​ (r) is the angle in glass.
●​ Higher refractive index means greater bending of light as it slows down more.
Critical Angle
 ●​ When light passes from an optically denser to an optically less dense medium at
small angles of incidence, there is a strong refracted ray and a weak reflected
ray.
●​ Increasing the angle of incidence increases the angle of refraction.
●​ Critical angle (
●​ c
●​ c) occurs when the angle of refraction is 90°.
●​ For angles of incidence greater than (
●​ c
●​ c), light undergoes total internal reflection.
●​ Total internal reflection means that the light does not cross the boundary and
reflects inside the denser medium.
●​ For the critical angle:
●​ sin⁡(c)=1n
●​ sin(c)=
●​ n
●​ 1
●​ ​

●​ where
●​ n
●​ n is the refractive index.

Lenses
Converging and Diverging Lenses

●​ A converging (or convex) lens is thickest in the center and bends light inwards.
●​ A diverging (or concave) lens is the thinnest in the center and spreads the light
out.
●​ The center of a lens is its optical center
●​ (C)
●​ (C) and the line through
●​ C
●​ C at right angles to the lens is the principal axis.
Principal focus

●​ When a beam of light (parallel to the principal axis) passes through a converging
lens, it refracts to converge at a point called the principal focus
●​ (F)
●​ (F).
●​ The principal focus of a converging lens is a real focus.
●​ A diverging lens has a virtual principal focus behind the lens, from which the
refracted beam appears to diverge.
●​ A lens has two principal focuses, one on each side, each equidistant from the
optical center
●​ (C)
●​ (C).
●​ The distance (
●​ CF
●​ CF) is the focal length
●​ (f)
 ●​ (f) of the lens.
Ray diagrams

●​ A ray parallel to the principal axis is refracted through the principal focus
●​ (F)
●​ (F).
●​ A ray through the optical center
●​ (C)
●​ (C) is undeviated (not refracted) for a thin lens.
●​ A ray through the principal focus
●​ (F)
●​ (F) is refracted parallel to the principal axis.
●​ The intersection of rays (in one beam) after refraction gives the location of the
image.
How to draw a ray diagram step-by-step

Parallel Ray (Ray 1):

●​ Draw a straight line (parallel to the principal axis).

●​ Start the line from the top of the object towards the lens.
●​ After refraction through the lens, draw this direct ray through the focal point
●​ F
 ●​ F on the opposite side of the lens.

Central Ray (Ray 2):

●​ Draw a straight line from the top of the object through the optical center
●​ C
●​ C of the lens.
●​ This ray will continue in the same direction without bending at all.

Image formed:

●​ These two will intersect on the opposite side of the lens to form the image of the

object.
Magnification

●​ The linear magnification

●​ (M)
●​ (M) is given by:
●​ M=image sizeobject size
●​ M=
●​ object size
 ●​ image size
●​ ​

●​ Magnification can also be expressed as:

●​ M=distance of image from lensdistance of object from lens
●​ M=
●​ distance of object from lens
●​ distance of image from lens
●​ ​

●​ Image properties at different object positions are shown below:

Object Position Image Position Image Nature Image Size

At 2F At 2F Real, inverted Same size

Between 2F and F Beyond 2F Real, inverted Larger

At F At infinity Real, inverted Infinitely large

Between F and lens On the same side of lens Virtual, upright Larger
Applications of Lenses in Vision Correction

●​ Short-Sightedness (Myopia)
○​ Cause: The eye lens focuses light in front of the retina instead of on it.
This causes distant objects to appear blurry.
○​ Correction: A diverging (concave) lens is used to spread out light rays
before they enter the eye, so the lens can focus them correctly on the
retina.
●​ Long-Sightedness (Hypermetropia)
○​ Cause: The eye lens focuses light behind the retina. This causes nearby
objects to appear blurry.
○​ Correction: A converging (convex) lens is used to focus light rays closer
together before they enter the eye, so they focus correctly on the retina.

Dispersion of Light
Refraction by a Prism

●​ In a triangular glass prism, a ray bends due to refraction at each surface.

●​ The bending at the first surface combines with the bending at the second
surface.
●​ This combined change in direction is called the deviation.
●​ Unlike in a parallel-sided block, where the emergent (exiting) ray remains parallel
to the incident ray, these bendings do not cancel out in a prism.
Dispersion

●​ When white light passes through a triangular glass prism, it separates into a
band of colors known as a spectrum.
●​ This separation of colors is called dispersion and occurs because the refractive
index of glass varies with the wavelength of light.
●​ White light consists of many colors with different wavelengths, and the prism
separates them based on their refractive indices.
●​ The colors of the visible spectrum, from longest to shortest wavelength, are: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet
●​ Red light, with the longest wavelength and lowest frequency, is refracted the
least by the prism.
 ●​ Violet light, with the shortest wavelength and highest frequency, is refracted the

most by the prism.

Electromagnetic Spectrum
Light waves and Electromagnetic Spectrum

●​ Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which extends beyond visible light
in both directions (with greater wavelength vs. smaller wavelength)
●​ The spectrum includes gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, microwaves,
and radio waves.
●​ Wavelength increases from gamma rays to radio waves, while frequency
increases from radio waves to gamma rays.

Properties of Electromagnetic Waves

●​ Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, approximately

●​ 3×108
●​ 3×10
●​ 8
●​
●​ m/s
●​ m/s.
●​ They can undergo reflection, refraction, and diffraction and are transverse waves.
 ●​ They follow the wave equation
●​ v=fλ
●​ v=fλ, where (
●​ v
●​ v) is the speed of light, (
●​ f
●​ f) is the frequency, and (
●​ λ
●​ λ) is the wavelength.
●​ Higher frequency means smaller wavelength and therefore more energy carried.
Radio Waves and Microwaves

●​ Radio waves are the longest-wavelength electromagnetic waves used for

communication, radio and television transmission, astronomy, and radio
frequency identification.
●​ Microwaves have shorter wavelengths than radiowaves and are used in
telecommunications, satellite communication, radar, and microwave ovens.
Infrared Radiation

●​ Detected as heat by the body; used in thermal imaging, heating, and remote
controls.
●​ Also used in communication (optical fibers), electric grills, and intruder alarms.
●​ However, high-intensity infrared can cause burns and eye damage.
Visible Light

●​ Red light has the longest wavelength, and violet light has the shortest.
●​ Monochromatic light consists of one color (single frequency), where frequency is
more responsible than wavelength to express the colour.
●​ Visible light enables vision and is used for illumination and photography.
●​ Optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes use light properties to form
images.
Ultraviolet Radiation

●​ Shorter wavelengths than visible light; causes sunburn and skin damage.
 ●​ Used in fluorescent applications (e.g., security marking, water treatment, artificial
skin-tanning) and sterilising water.
●​ Can be harmful in high doses.
X-rays and Gamma Rays

●​ X-rays have smaller wavelengths than ultraviolet rays and are used in medical
imaging, security screening, and industrial inspection.
●​ Gamma rays are highly penetrating (smallest wavelength and largest frequency)
and used in cancer detection cancer treatment to kill cells, sterilization, and
material inspection.
Communication Systems

●​ Below are the differences between digital and analog signals:

Aspect Digital Signals Analog Signals

Signal Type Discrete, binary (0s and 1s) Continuous, varying amplitude and
frequency

Transmissi Higher transmission rates Limited by bandwidth and signal

on Rate degradation over distance

Examples Digital data, internet signals, Audio signals, analog television, older
computer memory telephone systems
 Infrared Optical Fibers

●​ Infrared optical fibers use the principle of total internal reflection to make infrared
or light travel along the fiber without much loss.
●​ Used for long-distance data transmission, offering high bandwidth and low signal
loss compared to electrical transmission.

Sound
Longitudinal Waves

●​ Sound waves are longitudinal

●​ Particles in the medium (like air or water molecules) vibrate back and forth
parallel to the direction of wave propagation.
●​ This creates areas of compression (where molecules are closer together) and
rarefaction (where they are far apart) as the wave travels through the medium.
●​ The movement of particles transfers energy through the medium.
●​ This vibration causes the sound to be heard
Compressions and Rarefactions
 ●​ Sound waves are made of compressions (
●​ C
●​ C) and rarefactions (
●​ R
●​ R) as they move through a medium.
●​ Compressions are regions where air molecules are densely packed together and
the regions have higher pressure.
●​ Rarefactions are regions where air molecules are less densely packed and the
regions have lower pressure.

Frequency and Wavelength

●​ Frequency
●​ (f)
●​ (f) of a sound wave is the number of complete wave cycles per second and is
measured in Hertz (
●​ Hz
●​ Hz).
●​ Higher frequencies mean higher-pitch sounds, while lower frequencies mean
lower-pitch sounds.
●​ Wavelength (
●​ λ
●​ λ) is the distance between two consecutive compressions or rarefactions in a
sound wave.
●​ The speed of sound (
●​ v
●​ v) in a medium is determined by the product of its frequency and wavelength: (
●​ v=fλ
 ●​ v=fλ).
Limits of hearing

●​ Humans can only hear sound frequencies ranging from about 20

●​ Hz
●​ Hz (low pitch) to 20,000
●​ Hz
●​ Hz(high pitch).
●​ The upper limit of audibility decreases with age due to changes in the sensitivity
of the ear.
●​ Audibility can also be affected by the intensity (loudness) of the sound which is
determined by amplitude.
Reflection of sound (Echo)

●​ Sound waves reflect off hard and flat surfaces like how light reflects off a mirror.
●​ When sound reflects, it creates an echo, which is a repetition of the original
sound heard after a short delay.

Speed of Sound

●​ The speed of sound in air is approximately 330–350 meters per second (

●​ m/s
●​ m/s) at room temperature.
 ●​ In other materials, such as water (with a speed of approx. 1500m/s) or steel (with
a speed of approx. 5100 m/s), the speed of sound may vary due to differences in
the density.
●​ Temperature affects the speed of sound in air and it increases with temperature
because warmer air molecules move faster.
Measurement of the Speed of Sound

●​ Echo Method
●​ Stand at a known distance (like more than 300 meters) from a large wall.
●​ Clap hands or produce a sharp sound and start a stopwatch simultaneously.
●​ Wait for the distinct echo from the surface and stop the stopwatch when you hear
it.
●​ Calculation: Use the formula (
●​ v=2dt
●​ v=
●​ t
●​ 2d
●​ ​

●​ ), where (
●​ d
●​ d) is the distance to the surface and (
●​ t
●​ t ) is the time interval measured with the stopwatch.
Note: Twice the distance is used because the sound travels away from you and then

back again, covering the entire distance two times.

Direct Method

●​ Place two microphones a known distance (like 10 meters) apart.

●​ Connect microphones to an oscilloscope to detect the sound.
●​ Produce a sound source equidistant from both points and start timing when the
sound is produced.
●​ Stop timing when the sound is detected at the second point.
●​ Use the formula (
 ●​ v=dt
●​ v=
●​ t
●​ d
●​ ​

●​ ), where (
●​ d
●​ d) is the known distance between the two microphones and (
●​ t
●​ t) is the measured time interval between detection at the two points.

Musical Notes

●​ The pitch of the note is determined by the frequency of the sound wave (higher
frequencies produce higher pitch notes).
●​ Loudness is determined by the amplitude of vibrations ( greater amplitude
produces louder sounds)
 ●​ Quality (timbre) of a sound is its unique shape or texture, caused by the
instrument's construction.

Ultrasound

●​ Ultrasound refers to sound waves with frequencies above the upper limit of
human hearing (
●​ >20,000Hz
●​ >20,000Hz).
●​ It is used in medical imaging and industrial applications for precision and
non-destructive testing.
●​ Ultrasound waves behave similarly to audible sound waves but can penetrate
materials and provide detailed imaging without harmful effects.