Wave refraction Waves in deep waters are faster, because they do not feel the presence of the seafloor. Approaching the coast, for each isobathimetric lines (lines of same water depth), the waves crest undergoes refraction and it gets bended any time, becoming more and more parallel to the shore.

When waves approach the beach at an angle, the part of the wave that reaches shallow water earliest slows down the most, allowing the part of the wave that is farther offshore to catch up. In this way the wave is refracted (bent) so that it crashes on the shore more nearly parallel to the shore.

Waves are most commonly caused by wind. Wind-driven waves, or surface waves, are created by the friction between wind and surface water. As wind blows across the surface of the ocean or a lake, the continual disturbance creates a wave crest. The gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the earth also causes waves.

Longshore currents are generated when a “train” of waves reach the coastline and release bursts of energy. When a wave reaches a beach or coastline, it releases a burst of energy that generates a current, which runs parallel to the shoreline. This type of current is called a “longshore current.”

When a wave breaks, water is washed up the beach. This is called the swash . Then the water runs back down the beach, which is called the backwash . With a constructive wave, the swash is stronger than the backwash.

One consequence of diffraction is that sharp shadows are not produced. The phenomenon is the result of interference (i.e., when waves are superimposed, they may reinforce or cancel each other out) and is most pronounced when the wavelength of the radiation is comparable to the linear dimensions of the obstacle.

Destructive interference occurs when the crests of one wave overlap the troughs, or lowest points, of another wave. The Figure below shows what happens. As the waves pass through each other, the crests and troughs cancel each other out to produce a wave with zero amplitude.

In short, the angle of diffraction is directly proportional to the size of the wavelength. Hence red light (long wavelength) diffracts more than blue light (short wavelength). And radio waves (really long wavelength) diffract more than X-rays (really short wavelengths).

Reflection and Refraction: When a wave is incident on a boundary that separates two regions of different wave speed, part of the wave is reflected and part is transmitted.

When a wave passes the edge of an object or passes through an opening, the wave bends. A wave can also bend when it passes from one medium into another.

When a light wave encounters an object, they are either transmitted, reflected, absorbed, refracted, polarized, diffracted, or scattered depending on the composition of the object and the wavelength of the light.

Common examples of transmission of wave energy:

• sea waves passing a shallow area continue with their energy mostly unchanged.
• light passing through a glass window continues with over 95% of its energy.

From the smallest to the largest, waves can be classified as capillary, ultragravity, gravity, infragravity, long-period, and tidal waves.

Longitudinal waves such as sound waves cannot be polarized because the motion of the particles is in one-dimension. Thus, ultrasonic waves being a sound wave cannot be polarized.

Mechanical Waves Waves transfer energy from one place to another, but they do not necessarily transfer any mass. Light, sound, and waves in the ocean are common examples of waves. Sound and water waves are mechanical waves; meaning, they require a medium to travel through.

Transverse waves that exhibit polarization include electromagnetic waves such as light and radio waves, gravitational waves, and transverse sound waves (shear waves) in solids.

When two or more sound waves occupy the same space, they affect one another. The waves do not bounce off of each, but they move through each other. Two identical sound waves can add constructively or destructively to give different results (diagrams A and B). …

When two waves meet at a point, they interfere with each other. There are two types of interference, constructive and destructive. In constructive interference, the amplitudes of the two waves add together resulting in a higher wave at the point they meet.

If the two sound waves that collide are exactly in phase with each other they add together and produce a sound wave that is twice as loud. If they are exactly (180°) out of phase, they cancel each other out and the result is silence.

Destructive interference occurs when the maxima of two waves are 180 degrees out of phase: a positive displacement of one wave is cancelled exactly by a negative displacement of the other wave. The amplitude of the resulting wave is zero. The dark regions occur whenever the waves destructively interfere.

For constructive interference, the difference in wavelengths will be an integer number of whole wavelengths. For destructive interference it will be an integer number of whole wavelengths plus a half wavelength. Think of the point exactly between the two slits.

5 Answers. zero frequency means basically a constant term, no wave, no peaks passing you ever. Notice that the “wave” would have infinite period and wavelength, the time between peaks become infinite.

Constructive interference between sources A and B occurs at 2.5 m from source A. Destructive interference between sources A and B occurs at 1.0 m and 4.0 m from source A.

Constructive interference occurs when the maxima of two waves add together (the two waves are in phase), so that the amplitude of the resulting wave is equal to the sum of the individual amplitudes.

The general formula for destructive interference due to a path difference is given by δ = (m + 1/2) λ / n where n is the index of refraction of the medium in which the wave is traveling, λ is the wavelength, δ is the path difference and m = 0, 1, 2, 3 ….

Part A: How does the amplitude of the wave depend on the distance from the source? A) The amplitude decreases with distance. The intensity is large near the middle of the screen, then decreases to nearly zero, and then increases again as the distance from the middle of the screen increases.

What does it do to the amplitude? Frequency; it decreases the amplitude of the wave as it propagates. Frequency; it increases the amplitude of the wave as it propagates.

Wave speed, frequency and wavelength in refraction Although the wave slows down, its frequency remains the same, due to the fact that its wavelength is shorter. When waves travel from one medium to another the frequency never changes. As waves travel into the denser medium, they slow down and wavelength decreases.

The amplitude of a sound wave decreases with distance from its source, because the energy of the wave is spread over a larger and larger area.