Wave Definitions

Definitions

A Wave is a disturbance in a medium that carries energy without a net movement of particles.

A Medium can be something like sound, water, or a string. Any physical thing that can have a disturbance.

A Disturbance of a medium like water would be something like water waves moving up and down, or the contraction or expansion of a slinky.

The height of a wave is called the Amplitude. This is the maximum displacement of the wave from the neutral position, or node of the wave. Maximum displacement is the amplitude of the wave.

Displacement is the position of a particular point in the medium as it moves as the wave passes.

A wave must have a certain distance between two successive identical parts of the wave equal but opposite in amplitude to each other. This is one wave cycle. One of these cycles is the Wavelength of the wave.

A wave must have a rate in which the number of wavelengths is repeated per second. This is called the Frequency. The Frequency is the number of wavelength repetitions per second in Hz.

The Period measures how long in time (s) a single wavelength passes through a wave motion.

The Angular Frequency is the radian range of a wave, that being 2π multiplied by the period.

A Phase Constant is the radian change of the starting point of a wave.

The Velocity of a wave measures the traveling speed of the wave. That being the amount of distance travelled in a given period of time.

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