PHYS 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Sound, Wave Equation, Transverse Wave

• School: McGill University
• Department: Physics
• Course: PHYS 101
• Professor: Kenneth J Ragan

Document Summary

The same thing can be seen in water waves, where the wave moves across the water surface (horizontally) but a cork floating in the wave bobs vertically. The wave velocity in a stretched string or cord depends on only two quantities: the string tension. Ft and the mass-per-unit-length of the string, m/l; Do not transport matter /mass (although they can transport energy) v = (ft/[m/l]) Speed of the wave in a medium depends on characteritics of the medium. We describe waves with the same language we"ve already seen for oscillations: = wavelength = distance between two crests. Up to now we have dealt with transverse to the wave velocity. A second type of wave is a as the wave velocity. the wave is an alternating series of compressions and rarefactions, corresponding to the peaks and troughs of the wave. Where the particle velocity is in the same direction.