"A wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities."
Study of mechanical vibrations that propagate through matter and energy transfers that characterize how waves move.
The Physics of Sound: An introduction to sound waves, its properties, types, and characteristics.
Simple harmonic motion: A type of motion that oscillates back and forth around a central point or equilibrium position.
Wave Propagation: The way in which waves travel through different mediums like air, water, solids etc.
Wavelength and Frequency: The relationship between the distance between two consecutive points or crests of a wave and the number of waves that pass through them per second.
Sound Intensity: The loudness of sound, measured in decibels (dB).
Reflection and Refraction: The way waves reflect or change direction when they encounter different surfaces or mediums.
Standing waves: A type of wave that remains stationary in one place, creating patterns of nodes and anti-nodes.
Doppler Effect: A change in the frequency of a wave caused by the motion of the source or the observer.
Fourier Analysis: A mathematical technique used to decompose complex waves into simpler sinusoidal components.
Phase and Phase Velocity: The way in which the position of a wave is related to a fixed reference point, and the speed at which the wave travels through the medium.
Resonance: The tendency of a system to vibrate with maximum amplitude at certain frequencies.
Acoustic Waves: A type of wave that travels through a medium as alternating regions of high and low pressure.
Sound Sources: The origin of sound, such as vibrating objects, cultural or environmental factors.
Interference: The combination of two or more waves to produce a resultant wave with zero, maximum, or minimum amplitude.
Sound absorption: The ability of a medium to reduce the level of sound energy passing through it.
Waveguides: A structure designed to guide and direct the propagation of waves.
Acoustical Impedance: A measure of the resistance of a material to the flow of sound waves.
Architectural acoustics: The study of how sound waves behave within enclosed spaces like concert halls, theaters, and other indoor venues.
Ultrasound: Sound waves with frequencies higher than the human hearing range, used for imaging, measuring, and cleaning.
Psychoacoustics: The study of how the human brain and ear perceive and interpret sound.
Mechanical Waves: They are waves that propagate through a medium. They require a medium to travel, and the particles of the medium oscillate due to the passing wave.
Electromagnetic Waves: These waves do not require a medium to travel and are made up of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. They include radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays.
Longitudinal Waves: These waves are characterized by particles that move back and forth in the direction of the wave. The sound waves are an example of longitudinal waves.
Transverse Waves: These waves are characterized by particles that move perpendicular to the direction of the wave. Examples of transverse waves include ocean waves and light waves.
Surface Waves: These are waves that occur at the interface between two different media, such as the water-air interface, the Earth's crust, and the atmosphere.
Standing Waves: These waves are formed when two waves of the same frequency and amplitude traveling in opposite directions interfere with each other. They appear fixed in space and do not propagate.
Shock Waves: These waves are characterized by a sudden, intense change in pressure, followed by a rapid decrease in pressure. An example of a shock wave is the sonic boom produced by a supersonic aircraft.
Resonance Waves: These waves are produced when an object is subjected to vibrations at its natural frequency. Resonance can lead to an increase in amplitude of the wave.
Love Waves: These waves are a type of surface wave that propagate horizontally along the Earth's surface. They are known for their ability to cause damage during earthquakes.
Rayleigh Waves: These waves are a type of surface wave that propagate vertically and horizontally along the Earth's surface. They are responsible for the majority of the shaking that occurs during an earthquake.
Infrasound Waves: These are sound waves with frequencies below the range of human hearing. They are often used by animals to communicate over long distances.
Seismic Waves: These waves are generated by earthquakes and travel through the Earth's interior. They include primary waves, secondary waves, and surface waves.
Polarized Light Waves: These are waves in which the vibration of the electric field occurs in a specific direction. Polarized light can be used to study the properties of materials.
Gravitational Waves: These are waves in the fabric of space-time that propagate at the speed of light. They are produced by the acceleration of massive objects, such as black holes or neutron stars.
Torsional Waves: These waves are a type of mechanical wave that propagates as a twisting motion, rather than as a movement in a straight line. They are used in engineering to monitor the state of metal structures, such as bridges or wind turbines.
"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."