Chapter 15

Mechanical Waves

PowerPoint® Lectures for

University Physics, Twelfth Edition
– Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman

Lectures by James Pazun Modified by P. Lam 8/2/2010

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
 Topics for Chapter 15
• What is a mechanical wave motion
• Properties of mechanical waves
• Mathematical description of traveling wave

• Energy carried by in traveling wave

• Superposition of waves
• Standing waves

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 What is a mechanical wave motion?
• Create a disturbance in one region of medium
• The propagation of this disturbance to other regions of the medium =
mechanic wave
• Note: the medium must be elastic (it has some kind of restoring force) and
has inertia (mass)
• See examples below (identify the medium and the restoring force(s)):

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 Do all waves require a medium to travel?
• ALL mechanical waves require a medium to travel.
• Exception: Electromagnetic waves (radio wave, microwave,
visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, gamma rays, etc) can travel
through empty space (vacuum)

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 Types of waves
• Longitudinal waves - Waves that have disturbance parallel to the direction of
wave propagation are called longitudinal wave
• Transverse waves -Waves that have disturbance perpendicular to the direction
of propagation. Identify the waves below as longitudinal or transverse.

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 Wave speed
• Wave speed depends on the properties of the medium
Magnitude of restoring force
v=
Inertia of the medium
e.g. wave speed of a rope under tension:
F mass kg
v= ; F = tension, µ = =
µ length m
m
check unit: F=kg
s2
F kgm m m
= 2
• =
µ s kg s
Other examples:
(1) Sound velocity depends on the medium:air vs. solid (both magnitude of
restoring force and inertia are different in these two media).
(2) Longitudinal earthquake waves (P-wave) is faster than the transverse
earthquake wave (S-wave) - the magnitude of compressional restoring force (P-
wave) is greater than the shear restoring force (S-wave).

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 Waveform - examples

• Traveling wave pulse - generated by a pulsed driving force

• Traveling periodic wave (harmonic wave) - generated by a
continuous driving force
Mathematically (the amplitude of) a travelling is described by:
!
A(x,t) = f (x ! vt)n̂
(a)The function f describes the shape of the wave
! "
(e.g. for periodic wave, it may cosine: A(x,t) = Amax cos(x ! vt)n)
(b)The dependence on x and t in this form x-vt signifies that it is
a travelling wave along the x-direction;
v = positive => travelling in positive x-direction
v=negative => travelling in negative x-direction
(c) The direction of the amplitude is denoted by the unit vector n̂.
Example: If the wave is longitudinal and it travels along the x-direction,then n̂= î.
If the wave is transverse and transverse and it travels along x-direction, then n̂=ĵ or n̂=k̂
Q. Write a general expression for a longitudinal wave travelling in the negative y-direction
with a wave speed of 10 m/s.

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 Transverse Periodic wave
• A detailed look at
periodic transverse
waves will allow us to
extract parameters.
λ

v
x

! " $ 2! 2! '
A(x,t ) = Aj cos & x# t
% " T )(
" $ 2! " '
= Aj cos & (x # t ) )
% " T (
" $ 2! ' "
= Aj cos & (x # vt ) ) ; v= = "f
% " ( T

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 Longitudinal Periodic waves
Refer to Example 15.1.

! % 2" 2" (
A(x,t) = Aiˆ cos' x $ t*
&# T )

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 Particle velocity vs. wave velocity
• Consider a transverse wave on a rope

! % 2" (
A(x,t) = Acos' (x $ v)t* ˆj
&# )
!
dA(x,t) 2" % 2" (ˆ
Particle velocity = =A v sin' (x $ v)t* j
dt # &# )
2" 2"
+ Maximum particle speed =| A v |=| A2"f |=| A |
# T
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 Energy (or Power) carried by a wave
As the wave travels along the medium, it transports the
energy that it carries.
transported kinetic energy 1 mass 2
= (particle velocity) • ( wave velocity)
time 2 length
Example : Periodic wave
2
1 , & 2# )/
= µ. A" sin( (x % v)t+1 • v
2 - '$ *0
2
1 , & 2 # )/
= µv" 2 A 2 .sin( (x % v)t+1
2 - '$ *0
transported potential energy
The give exactly the same term
time
2
2 2
, &2# )/
2 Total instantaneous power = P = µv" A . sin( (x % v)t+1
- '$ *0
1
2 Average power = µv" 2 A 2 (because sine square = 1/2)
2

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!
 Wave intensity
• Go beyond the wave on a string and visualize, say … a
sound wave spreading from a speaker. That wave has
intensity dropping as 1/r2 due to conservation of energy.
Energy/time Power
Intensity = =
area 4 "r 2

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 Mathematical connection between wave pulse and periodic waves

A wave pulse can be thought of as a superposition of many

periodic waves with various wavelengths and frequencies -
Fouriers Theorem.

Any fucntion f(x) can be expressed as

a sum of cosine and sine fucntions of
various wavelengths :
% 2$ ( % 2$ (
f (x) = # A" cos' x * + B" sin' x*
" & " ) & " )

!
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 Non-dispersive vs dispersive medium
• A non-dispersive medium is one
where all wavelengths have same
wave velocity. For example: ALL
electromagnetic waves traveling in
vaccuum have the same wave
velocity ~ 3x108 m/s). Another
example is wave along a tight rope is
is approximately non-dispersive,
F
v= independent of "
µ

In a non-dispersive medium, a wave pulse

!
does not disperse (spread out) as it travels, see
figure on the right.

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 Non-dispersive vs dispersive medium
• Almost all media are dispersive (the only true non-
dispersive medium is the vaccum!)
• For example: Electromagnetic waves (light) travels
inside a piece glass have wave velocities depending on
the wavelength of light; red and blue light have different
wave velocity => white light entering a piece of glass (a
prism) will disperse into different colors.
• Dispersion of wave pulse prevents digital signal to
travel long distance; eventually the pulse shape will be
distorted.

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 Standing waves on a string - resonance frequencies
• Although a wave traveling along a string can have any
wavelength, a string with both ends fixed have certain preferred
wavelengths (or resonance frequencies) - (e.g. guitar).

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 Calculation of resonance wavelength (or frequencies)
Given : The length of a guiter string is 0.3m.
Find the first three "resonance" wavelengths.

"1
! = L # "1 = 2L = 2(0.3) = 0.6m
2

"2 = L # "2 = 0.3m

3"3 2 2
= L # "3 = L = (0.3) = 0.2m
2 3 3

!
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 Calculation of resonance wavelength (normal modes)
Given : The length of a guiter string is 0.3m.
Find the first three "resonance" frequencies.
What additional information do we need?

"1
! = L # "1 = 2L = 2(0.3) = 0.6m
2

"2 = L # "2 = 0.3m

3"3 2 2
= L # "3 = L = (0.3) = 0.2m
2 3 3

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!