Transverse and longitudinal waves, and wave speed
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The teaching part (1 min) is free to watch. A free account opens the whole lecture: 3 worked examples, 6 practice questions, 2 real past-paper questions with the answers explained, the mistakes that lose marks, the full-marks tip, a one-card summary and a quick quiz.
What this lecture covers
- The cork on the sea
- Describing a wave
- Amplitude and wavelength
Read the transcript of the teaching part
Last time
Before we start: last time, in Reflection, refraction and diffraction of waves, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.
The cork on the sea
Watch a cork floating on the sea as a wave passes. The wave travels towards the beach, but the cork does not. It just bobs up and down on the spot. So a wave carries energy from place to place, and it does not carry matter with it.
Describing a wave
The amplitude is the maximum displacement of a point on the wave from its rest position. The wavelength is the distance between one point on a wave and the matching point on the next wave, such as crest to crest. Its symbol is lambda, and it is measured in metres. The frequency is the number of waves that pass a point each second. It is measured in hertz. The period is the time for one complete wave. It is one divided by the frequency. The highest point of a wave is a crest, and the lowest is a trough.
Amplitude and wavelength
Here is a transverse wave. The wavelength is the length of one whole wave, from crest to crest. The amplitude is measured from the middle line up to a crest, and not from the bottom to the top. That is the most common slip.
How often it comes up
How often Cambridge has asked each part, counted by ExamYard from every past paper in its question bank: Describing waves and the wave equation · Transverse and longitudinal waves.
The whole chapter: General Properties of Waves, General Properties of Waves.
Chapter 3.1: General properties of waves
- Transverse and longitudinal waves, and wave speed 6 min
- Reflection, refraction and diffraction of waves 6 min
Also for O Level Physics 5054
Which topics come up most in O Level Physics 5054 past papers, counted from every paper since 2004.