ESE 121

Lesson 3
 Waves
What is a wave?

A disturbance or oscillation (of a physical

quantity), that travels through matter or space,
accompanied by a transfer of energy. Wave
motion transfers energy from one point to another,
often with no permanent displacement of the
particles of the medium.

- Wikipedia
 Waves
Wave properties:

Oscillation is the movement, back and

forth, at a constant speed, around a
central point.

Waves are generally caused by

oscillations. A tuning fork creating a
sound wave is a good example.
 Waves
Sound waves:

Sound waves are longitudinal waves that travel

through a medium. They travel by compressing
the air molecules.

physicsclassroom.com
 Waves
Wave properties:

=period

Period is the time it

takes for one complete
cycle to occur.
 Waves
Wave properties:

=frequency

Number of periods (cycles) per

unit time.

If =2.0s then =0.5Hz

If =0.5s then =2Hz

Where Hz is hertz, or cycles per

second.
 Waves
Wave properties:

=angular frequency

When we talk about waves its

sometimes easier to think in
terms of angular frequency.

You can think of it as the rate of

change of the phase of the
sinusoid.

Angular frequency is measured

in radians per second.
 Waves
Wave properties:

The relationship between

frequency and angular
frequency is given by:

If =2.0s =0.5Hz

=2(0.5)3.14 radians per

second
 Waves
Wave properties:

=wavelength

Wavelength is similar
to period, except that
the unit of measure is
length instead of time.
 Waves
Wave properties:

As frequency is related to
the period, it is also
related to the wavelength.

The wavelength of a
given sinusoidal wave
traveling at a constant
speed is given by:
 Waves
Wave properties:

=amplitude

The amplitude of a
sinusoidal wave is the
measure of its change
over a single period.
 Waves
Wave properties:

For a true sinusoidal

wave, the amplitude is
equal for both positive
and negative
excursions of the
wave.
 Waves
Wave properties:

Amplitude can be
measured in different
ways.

1. Peak

2. Peak to peak

3. RMS
 Waves
Wave properties:

Peak amplitude (1) is the

measure of the maximum
absolute value of the
signal.

In this example, the peak

amplitude is 1.
 Waves
Wave properties:

Peak to peak amplitude

(2) is the measure of the
change between the
peak and trough of the
wave.

In this example, the peak

to peak amplitude is 2.
 Waves
Wave properties:

RMS amplitude (3) stands for root mean

square. This type of measurement is used
for waves that have an amplitude that
changes with time.

RMS is widely used in electrical

engineering.

For a sinusoidal wave, the formula is:

In our example the RMS amplitude would

be 0.707. For more complicated
waveforms, the formula is more
complicated as well.
 Waves
Wave properties:

=phase

Phase is simply a measure of the offset

from the origin of the zero crossing of
the wave.

In this example, the zero crossing of the

red wave is precisely at the origin of our
coordinate system. The zero crossing
of the blue wave is later by a value of .

Note that none of the other wave

parameters such as period, frequency,
wavelength or amplitude have
changed.
 Waves
Wave properties:

=phase

Phase is always relative. When we measure

phase, its either relative to another wave or
relative to a fixed source.

Keep in mind that we can place the coordinate

system wherever we choose, so we can think of
the red wave as being delayed from the blue
wave OR as the blue wave being delayed by
the red wave.

180 or radians would be completely out of

phase. This happens when the peak of one
wave occurs at the same time as the trough of
the other wave.

Two sine waves of the same frequency and

amplitude, 180 out of phase will cancel each
other out, completely.
 Waves
What is a wave?

There are two basic types of waves. Mechanical waves such as a

sound wave require a medium to travel through. The waves causes
a disturbance or deformation in the medium that propagates
through the medium. A sound wave that travels through air causes
the air molecules to collide with each other. When they collide they
bounce off of each other creating a restoring force. This force
prevents the molecules from moving along with the wave.

Electromagnetic waves, such as light, do not require a medium.

Instead, a periodic oscillation in the electrical and magnetic fields
allows the wave to propagate. Since they do not require a medium
to travel through, they can propagate through the vacuum of space.
 Waves
Progressive waves:

Later on in the course, well be examining how the

sound pressure in a mechanical wave is converted
to an electrical signal, but for now, well be
examining a sound wave as a mechanical wave.
Although sound can travel through most mediums,
well mostly concern ourselves with sound moving
through air.
 Waves
Progressive waves:

Imagine a rope, tied and one end and held at

the other. If the held end is moved up and down
periodically times per second, a wave with the
frequency will propagate down the rope. The
speed of the wave will be determined by several
factors that well ignore for the moment.

The wavelength , is the distance between each

successive crest in the wave. If the frequency is
constant, the wavelength will be constant as
well.

The velocity of the wave can be given as:

 Waves
Progressive waves:

There are two basic types of wave motion. A

transverse wave (shown in the previous slide)
oscillates perpendicular to the direction of travel.
A longitudinal wave oscillates collinearly to the
direction of travel. Similar to ripples in a pond.
Waves
 Waves
Impulses and reflections:

a. impulse with fixed end b. impulse with free end

 Waves
Superposition and interference:

Superposition is defined as the overlapping of two

or more waves.

For linear systems, the net response at a given

place and time caused by two or more stimuli is the
sum of the responses which would have been
caused each stimulus individually.

- Wikipedia
 Waves
Superposition and interference:

Whenever two or more waves interact, an

interference is created. The easiest way to
visualize this is by imagining how 2d sine waves
interact either completely in phase, completely out
of phase or partially out of phase.
 Waves
Superposition and interference:
 Waves
Superposition and interference:
 Waves
Superposition and interference:

In the case of two waves of the same amplitude and

frequency traveling in opposite directions on the same
rope which is fixed on both ends, alternating regions of
constructive and destructive interference will occur. As
we have seen, this will create nodes and anti-nodes that
are stationary along the string. These are called
standing waves.

In audio, standing waves are very important and can

create massive headaches for recording engineers.
 Waves
Superposition and interference:

Here we can see an interference pattern in a

longitudinal wave:
 Waves
Sound waves:

As the tuning fork vibrates outward, it pushes the

air molecules directly in front of it very slightly.
Those air molecules push on those directly in front
of them and the process continues. In one
dimension, the wave would propagate in a line. In
two dimensions, the wave would propagate
outward in a circle. In three dimensions, the wave
would propagate outward in a sphere.
 Waves
Sound waves:

personal.cityu.edu.hk
 Waves
Sound waves:

In general the speed of sound is given by:

Where is temperature in degrees Celsius.

Looking at the formula we can easily see that the speed of sound is
a function of temperature.

At room temperature 27C =347.2 /

At 100C =391 /
 Waves
Sound waves:

Speed of sound in various materials:

Substance Temperature (C) m/s ft/s

Air 0 331.3 1,087
Air 20 343 1,127
Helium 0 970 3,180
Carbon Dioxide 0 258 846
Water 0 1,410 4,626
Methyl Alcohol 0 1,130 3,710
Aluminum 0 5,150 16,900
Steel 0 5,100 16,700
Brass 0 3,480 11,420
Lead 0 1,210 3,970
 Waves
Sound waves:

Speed of sound as a function of temperature and humidity:

Temperature -30 C -20 C -10 C 0C +10 C +20 C +30 C

Humidity % m/s m/s m/s m/s m/s m/s m/s

0 312.8 319.2 325.4 331.5 337.5 343.4 349.3

15 - - 325.4 331.5 337.5 343.4 349.4

30 - - 325.4 331.5 337.5 343.6 349.8

45 - - 325.4 331.5 337.6 343.9 350.3

60 - - 325.4 331.5 337.8 344.1 350.7

75 - - 325.4 331.6 337.9 344.4 351.1

90 - - 325.4 331.6 338.0 344.6 351.1

 Waves
Waves propagation:

Most waves propagate

through space in more than
one dimension. Sound
waves generally propagate
in three dimensions.
Spherical or point sources
radiate in a spherical
pattern, while linear sources
will radiate in a cylindrical resource.isvr.soton.ac.uk

pattern.
 Waves
Wave propagation:

A small loudspeaker will approximate a point

source for low frequencies and radiate in a
spherical pattern. Higher frequencies will tend to
be more directional. This is why placement for
your subwoofer isnt critical to your listening
environment.
 Waves
Doppler effect:

When dealing with sound, the frequency emitted by

the source and the frequency received by the
listener is the same, providing that both the source
and the listener are stationary. Once either or both
are in motion, this statement is no longer true. If the
listener and source are moving closer together, the
observed frequency will be higher and if theyre
moving away from each other, the observed
frequency will be lower.
 Waves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4OnBYrbCjY
 Waves
Doppler effect:

Imagine a stationary source emitting a sine wave with a

frequency of 100Hz (100 cycles per second). A stationary
listener, some distance away, will hear a 100Hz sine wave. An
observer moving toward the source will hear a higher pitched
sine wave with a frequency given by:

Where o is the frequency from the observers point of view and

is the frequency at the source, is the speed of sound and o
is the speed of the observer.
 Waves
Doppler effect:

A different perspective would be one in which the

observer was stationary and the source was
moving. This would be given by:
 Waves
Doppler effect:

As a side note, the doppler effect can be applied

to light as well. As an object is moving toward
you, any light that the object is emitting will be
shifted toward the blue end of the visible spectrum
(higher frequency or shorter wavelength).
Conversely, a light-emitting object moving away
from you will have a corresponding red shift.
 Waves
Reflection:

When a wave reaches the boundary between one medium and another,
a certain portion of the wave is transmitted through the barrier and a
certain amount is reflected back at the source. The amount of energy
reflected back is determined by the differences in the two media.

Reflection of a sound wave can result in two types of phenomena,

reverb and echo. Reverb occurs when our ears are unable to discern
between the source sound and the reflected sound. Any two sounds
arriving within 100ms of each other will be perceived by the brain as
one longer sound instead of two distinct sounds.

Any reflection that is longer than 100ms will be perceived as an echo

the original sound.
 Waves
Refraction:

When waves pass from one medium to another, they sometimes change
direction or bend. An example of this can be found when sound travels over
water. Water has a moderating effect on air temperature and as we have learned
the speed of sound is a function of temperature. Since the air directly over a
body of water is cooler than the air above, the portion of the sound wave closer
to the water will propagate slower than the portion higher up. Subsequently, the
direction of the wave changes, refracting downward toward the water.
 Waves
Diffraction:

Diffraction of sound waves occur when the waves travel

through openings or around barriers. We often observe this
when somebody is speaking to us from another room. The
longer the wavelength (lower frequency), the more a wave
can diffract.
 Waves
Summary:

Oscillation is the movement, back and forth, at a constant speed, around a central
point.

The primary wave properties are: period, frequency, amplitude and phase.

All waves, whether light, sound, radio or water waves share these properties.

Waves carry energy and can be reflected, refracted and diffracted.

Waves can interact with one another leading to constructive and destructive
interference.

Waves can be classified into longitudinal and transverse depending on the direction
of oscillation with regard to propagation.

Sound waves are longitudinal vibrations causing compression and rarefaction of

molecules.