"A wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities."
Covers the fundamental properties of waves, their behavior in different mediums, and how they propagate in physical space.
Waves: Definition of waves and their properties, such as amplitude, frequency, and wavelength.
Sound Waves: Sound waves are a specific type of wave that moves through a medium (solid, liquid or gas) and causes the sensation of sound.
Wave Propagation: The study of how waves propagate through a medium, including reflection, refraction, diffraction, and interference.
Speed of Waves: The velocity at which waves move through a medium.
Standing Waves: The result of two waves with the same frequency and amplitude, but traveling in opposite directions, interfere with each other.
Resonance: Resonance is the phenomenon whereby a vibrating body causes another body with similar natural frequencies to vibrate.
Doppler Effect: This describes a shift in the frequency of a wave that results from the motion of the source or receiver.
Wave Equation: The mathematical relationship that describes the behavior of waves in a medium.
Fourier Analysis: A technique used to decompose complex waveforms into their constituent sine and cosine waves.
Sound Absorption: The absorption of sound waves by materials and surfaces.
Room Acoustics: The study of sound within an enclosed space, including the measurement and control of sound quality within architectural design.
Acoustic Materials: Materials designed to optimize and enhance the acoustics of a space or product.
Sound Isolation: The use of building materials and design strategies to reduce the transmission of sound between rooms or buildings.
Sound Reinforcement: The use of technology to amplify and distribute sound for large-scale events or performances.
Psychoacoustics: The study of the perception of sound, including how the brain processes auditory information and how this affects human behavior.
Architectural Acoustics: The application of acoustic principles to the design and construction of buildings.
Environmental Noise Control: The reduction of noise pollution from transportation, industry, and other sources.
Dynamic Range: The difference between the loudest and softest sounds that a system can produce or record.
Reflection: When a wave returns back after striking a surface, it is called reflection. This allows the measurement of distance or position of objects through the use of sound waves.
Refraction: Refraction is the bending of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. This is commonly observed when sound waves bend as they pass through different mediums.
Diffraction: Diffraction occurs when a wave bends around an obstacle. This can result in sound being heard around corners or other barriers.
Interference: When two waves interact with each other, they can either amplify or cancel each other out. This is known as interference and can be used in architectural design to create sound barriers or control noise levels.
Absorption: When a wave is absorbed by a surface, it loses energy and the amplitude decreases. This is why materials like carpets and curtains are commonly used to reduce noise in a room.
Transmission: Transmission occurs when a wave passes through a medium without being absorbed or refracted. This is important in architecture as it allows sound to transmit through different rooms or spaces.
Resonance: Resonance occurs when a system vibrates at its natural frequency in response to an external force. This can result in amplification of sound and is commonly used in musical instruments.
Standing Waves: When a wave is trapped between two boundaries and appears to be standing still, it is called a standing wave. This can cause areas of loud and soft sound within a room.
Doppler effect: The Doppler effect is the change in frequency of a wave caused by the motion of the source or the receiver. This is commonly observed when an ambulance siren sounds different as it approaches and then passes by.
Phase: The phase of a wave refers to the position of the wave relative to a fixed point in time. This is important in acoustics as it can impact the quality of sound in a room.
"Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (resting) value at some frequency."
"When the entire waveform moves in one direction, it is said to be a traveling wave; by contrast, a pair of superimposed periodic waves traveling in opposite directions makes a standing wave."
"In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibration has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero."
"Waves are often described by a wave equation (standing wave field of two opposite waves) or a one-way wave equation for single wave propagation in a defined direction."
"In a mechanical wave, stress and strain fields oscillate about a mechanical equilibrium." "In an electromagnetic wave (such as light), coupling between the electric and magnetic fields sustains propagation of waves involving these fields according to Maxwell's equations."
"Examples of mechanical waves are sound waves, seismic waves, gravity waves, surface waves, and string vibrations."
"Electromagnetic waves can travel through a vacuum and through some dielectric media (at wavelengths where they are considered transparent)."
"Electromagnetic waves, as determined by their frequencies (or wavelengths), have more specific designations including radio waves, infrared radiation, terahertz waves, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays."
"Other types of waves include gravitational waves, heat diffusion waves, plasma waves, reaction-diffusion waves, and more."
"Mechanical and electromagnetic waves transfer energy, momentum, and information, but they do not transfer particles in the medium."
"In mathematics and electronics, waves are studied as signals."
"Some waves have envelopes which do not move at all such as standing waves (which are fundamental to music) and hydraulic jumps."
"Waves with infinite domain, that extend over the whole space, are commonly studied in mathematics, and are very valuable tools for understanding physical waves in finite domains."
"A plane wave is an important mathematical idealization where the disturbance is identical along any (infinite) plane normal to a specific direction of travel."
"In linear media, complicated waves can generally be decomposed as the sum of many sinusoidal plane waves having different directions of propagation and/or different frequencies."
"A plane wave is classified as a transverse wave if the field disturbance at each point is described by a vector perpendicular to the direction of propagation." "Sound waves in fluids (such as air) can only be longitudinal."
"That physical direction of an oscillating field relative to the propagation direction is also referred to as the wave's polarization, which can be an important attribute."
"A mechanical wave is a local deformation (strain) in some physical medium that propagates from particle to particle by creating local stresses that cause strain in neighboring particles too."
"The seismic waves generated by earthquakes are significant only in the interior and surface of the planet, so they can be ignored outside it."