Mechanical wave Definition and 18 Threads

I don't really know where to start as this is not exactly my homework and I finished school some 15 years ago. I looked into my old high school notes, the last time I ever had anything about mechanical waves and sound. Unfortunately, we never learned anything about sound waves causing...

Homework Statement A hand induces a transverse wave in a string by periodically moving up and down. This causes the string to move up and down. This movement propagates through the string producing a series of wavefronts which move towards the fixed wall with a velocity v. How do we...

Homework Statement Part C: Find fundamental frequency. Homework Equations Tension(y) = μgy v(y) = sqrt(gy) Time it takes to travel from bottom to top = t_up = 2srqt(L/g) The Attempt at a Solution I found part A and B, which are tension and velocity. I don't know how to find part C because...

Homework Statement Homework Equations The right hand section (A) has an incident and reflected wave $$y_1=Ae^{i(kx+\omega t)} +A'e^{i(-kx+\omega t)} $$ The middle section (B) has a transmission reflected wave $$y_2=Be^{i(k_2x+\omega t)} +B'e^{i(-k_2x+\omega t)}$$ Section (C) just has the...

Is it correct to state that a progressive wave, originates when a simple harmonic motion is imparted continuously to adjacent particles from one direction to another moving with a velocity v. Using this idea, substituting (t - x/v) instead of t is the simple harmonic motion function...

Homework Statement Two infinite ropes, rope 1 and rope 2, of same linear density ##\mu=0.1 kg/m## have the same tension ##T=100N## and lie on the same plane, one perpendicular to the other. The two ropes are connected in the origin. On one of the two branches of rope 1 an harmonic wave is...

Shock wave is caused by the disturbance of air by the airplane. When it propagate the mechanism should be the same as that of longitudinal sound wave. Why sometimes it can travel faster than sound? (also see: http://physics.info/shock/ )

By considering the superposition of two waves propagating through a string, one representing the original or incident wave and the other representing the wave reflected at the fixed end, if both ends of the string is fixed then the waves can reflected and travel back and forth. Standing wave can...

A wave pulse on a string moving from left to right towards a free end will reflect and propagates from right to left with the same speed and amplitude as the incident wave, and with the same polarity. My question is, why the slope and the vertical force must be zero at the free end? If the...

Homework Statement Serway's Physics for Sciencetists and Engineers with Modern Physics, 9th Edition (current), Chapter 16, problem 19:[/B] (a) Write the expression for y as a function of x and t in SI units for a sinusoidal wave traveling along a rope in the negative x direction with the...

With ω/k = 2π/T / 2π/λ = velocity for both transverse mechanical waves and EM waves. I can understand velocity as distance over time in mechanical wave. But how is the ratio Em/Bm = ω/k = c. That is the maximum amplitudes of the E and B fields in the y and z planes corresponding to c in...

I haven't seen differential equations yet so please do not answer at that level. Suppose I'm on the beach, in the water, and some wave crashes against me. Can we talk about the momentum of that wave as being just the mass of the bump times the velocity of the wave? Can we speak of...

Hi All, First off, thanks to all the old hands at physicsforums, you guys are truly an amazing resource. I was thinking about a system today that at first glance, appears to violate local conservation of energy for two mechanical wave pulses interfering with each other. Consider a...

Homework Statement A transverse sinusiodal wave on a string has a period T= 25.0 ms and travels in the negative x direction with a speed of 30.0 m/s. At t=0, an element of the string at x=0 has a transverse position of 2.00 cm and is traveling downward with a speed of 2.00 m/s. Homework...

Excuse me if this question is obvious. Do mechanical waves propagate through loudspeaker diaphragms (whether they be elastic or rigid) in the same way that acoustic waves propagate through waveguides albeit a different medium? As far as I understand, reflections occur at the boundaries of the...

Hi, I was wondering if anybody is in a position to resolve some questions about tsunami waves as they relate to the general physics of mechanical waves. I will briefly try to outline the issues: 1. The energy of a mechanical wave, i.e. one dependent on the physical interaction of the...

What must be present for the propagation of a mechanical wave?

when a mechanical wave is reflected by a fixed support it experiences a phase change of pi ... without getting into maths can i qualitatively prove this ? i cannot analyse how the forces will be acting .