- #1
Peter G.
- 442
- 0
Hi,
I am studying waves and I am having a hard time understanding the following concepts:
Wavefronts: I understand the principle. The only thing confusing me is when my teacher was explaining, he drew a light ray and lines perpendicular to that ray and he said those were the crests of the wave. How? I don´t understand that, unless we are looking at the wave from the "side", similar to the view we have of a wave in an oscilloscope, then I understand how those perpendicular lines are the crest and are therefore points in phase.
Displacement Time Graphs of Longitudinal Waves: When I was learning about longitudinal and transverse waves I learned how, in a transverse wave, the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer, yet, the displacement time graph os a longitudinal wave is a sine curve... How doesn't that imply that the oscillations are at 90 degrees to the direction of motion?
Thanks
I am studying waves and I am having a hard time understanding the following concepts:
Wavefronts: I understand the principle. The only thing confusing me is when my teacher was explaining, he drew a light ray and lines perpendicular to that ray and he said those were the crests of the wave. How? I don´t understand that, unless we are looking at the wave from the "side", similar to the view we have of a wave in an oscilloscope, then I understand how those perpendicular lines are the crest and are therefore points in phase.
Displacement Time Graphs of Longitudinal Waves: When I was learning about longitudinal and transverse waves I learned how, in a transverse wave, the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer, yet, the displacement time graph os a longitudinal wave is a sine curve... How doesn't that imply that the oscillations are at 90 degrees to the direction of motion?
Thanks