Name: Velocity and Acceleration of Particles in Wave Motion
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 7 min 3 s
Description: We know that there is no net movement of particles in a wave, but they vibrate at their place. The video discusses the velocity and acceleration of the parti...

Question

Explain the meanings of the following in connection with waves : amplitude, time-period, frequency, phase, wavelength and wave speed. Establish a relation between frequency, speed and wavelength.

Accepted Answer

These are the basic characteristic which differentiates one wave from another.

Amplitude of a wave - The amplitude of a wave refers to the maximum amount of displacement of a particle on the medium from its rest position. Amplitude is the distance from rest to crest or from rest to the trough.

Time period - The time period is the time taken for one complete wave of oscillation to pass a given point. As the frequency of a wave increases, the time period of the wave decreases. It is denoted by $T$ .

Frequency - Frequency describes the number of complete waves that pass a fixed place in $1$ second. It is denoted by $n$ .

Phase - The phase of an oscillating particle at any instant denotes the position and direction of the motion at that instant. It is denoted by $φ$ .

Wavelength - Distance between two consecutive particles oscillating in the same phase is known as wavelength. Or, it is the distance between two consecutive crest or trough. It is denoted by $λ$ .

Wave speed - The distance traversed by a wave in $1$ second is known as wave velocity. It is denoted by $v$ .

Relation Between frequency, speed and wavelength :

Let''s assume, for an oscillating particle,

$n =$ frequency

$λ =$ wavelength

$v =$ speed

So, $T =$ distance travelled in $T$ second $= λ$

Distance travelled in 1 second $= \frac{λ}{T}$

So, $v = \frac{λ}{T}$

or, we can also write it as, $v = n λ$

Explain the meanings of the following in connection with waves : amplitude, time-period, frequency, phase, wavelength and wave speed. Establish a relation between frequency, speed and wavelength.

Important Questions on Progressive Harmonic Waves

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