UNIT 8

WAVE MOTION AND SOUND

By the end of this unit students will be able to

 define the terms wave and wave pulse.
 describe longitudinal and transverse waves.
 Distinguish between mechanical waves and
electromagnetic waves.
 state the wave equation and use it to solve problems
 describe the characteristics and properties of waves.
 define the terms diffraction and interference of waves
 explain the meaning of the terms echo, reverberation,
pitch, loudness and quality.
Introduction
A wave is a disturbance or variation which travels
through a medium from one region of space to
another.
Wave motion is the transfer of energy and
momentum from one point of the medium to another
point of the medium without actual transport of
matter between two points.
The medium through which the wave travels may
experience some local oscillations as the wave
passes, but the particles in the medium do not travel
with the wave.
8.1 Wave propagation

What are waves?

• A wave is defined as a continuous disturbance or a

series of vibration that travel through a medium

• All waves are transferring or transporting energy

without the actual movement of the matter or the
medium from one place to another.

• A wave does NOT carry matter with it.

• When a wave transfer energy from one place to
another there is no transfer of matter.
• When the wave passes through the material medium
the particles in the medium simply vibrate from side
to side and they remain in their equilibrium position.
• The vibration could be up and down, left to right or
any vibration, but the particles always move back
and forth past their equilibrium position.
8.1.1 Wave pulses and Continuous waves
Wave pulses
• It is a single disturbance with a finite length.
• A pulse wave is often associated with a single
sudden motion, impact, or even explosion.
• It usually has a sinusoidal shape, but in electronics
there are also square and rectangular pulse waves.
• As with other waveforms, a pulse has a velocity and
amplitude.
• Since there is primarily only one crest, there is no
frequency or true wavelength, although the width of
the pulse relates to wavelength.
 When the pulse wave has sub-harmonic crests, it is called a wave

packet.

Continuous wave

 A wave which travels continuously in a medium in the same direction

without the change in its amplitude is called a travelling wave or a

progressive wave.

 When a stone is dropped into a quiet pond, a set of circular patterns

spread outward from the point of impact in even increasing radii.

 The size of each circular ripple grows at a constant rate.

 This is referred to as a continuous wave.

8.2 Classification of Waves
• Based on their production or on the basis of their
ability or inability to transmit energy through a
vacuum, waves can be classified into two main
groups:
 Mechanical waves
Electromagnetic waves
Mechanical waves
• Mechanical waves characterized by the oscillatory
motion of the particles of a material medium.
• They are produced by a physical disturbance of a
material medium.
• Mechanical waves include water waves, sound waves,
waves on springs or strings, Seismic waves,
P-waves in earthquakes pressure wave and S-waves in
earthquakes.
 They need material medium for their propagation or for

transporting the energy from one location to another.

 They do not travel through vacuum and as a result they

can’t transport energy through vacuum.

 Sound waves are incapable of traveling through a vacuum.
Electromagnetic waves

• Electromagnetic waves are characterized by the oscillation

of magnetic and electric fields.

• They are capable of transmitting their energy through a

vacuum.

• They are produced by the interaction or the vibration of

magnetic and electric fields.
 Electromagnetic waves include Radio waves, Microwaves,

Light waves, X-rays, Gamma-rays etc. .

• They travel or propagate both through a material medium

and vacuum.

 All electromagnetic waves have the same speed in vacuum.

 But they have different wavelengths and frequencies.

 Based on the way they propagate waves can:

1.Transvers wave

2. Longitudinal wave

3. Surface waves
Transvers wave
 The vibration or oscillation of the particles of the medium is
perpendicular to the direction of the wave motion or the
transfer of energy.
 Wave direction means the direction in which wave is
travelling or the direction in which energy is propagating or
transferring.
 Examples of transverse waves include vibrations on a
string, light waves, S-wave in earthquakes, waves on the
surface of deep water, radio waves and ripples on the
• We can make a horizontal transverse wave by moving the
slinky vertically up and down.

• All transverse waves comprise a series of crests (peaks) and

troughs.
• A crest is a point on a wave where the particles of the
medium have the maximum phase of vibration.
• A trough is point on a wave where the particles of the
medium have the minimum phase of vibration.
Longitudinal waves
• A longitudinal wave is a wave in which particles of the
medium move in a direction parallel to the direction that the
wave moves or in the direction along the direction in which
the energy of the wave is transporting.
• Longitudinal waves are always characterized by particle
motion being parallel to wave motion.
• Sound wave, Pressure waves, P- Wave in earthquakes, and
Wave on a spring are some examples of longitudinal waves
• .

• Longitudinal wave can be expressed in terms of

compression and rarefaction.
 Compressions are the regions where the spring is
compressed or the particles are pushed together.
• Rarefactions are the regions where the spring is relaxed or
the particles are more spread out.
 If the longitudinal wave is travelling through a gas then
compression can be thought of an area of higher pressure
and a rarefaction can be an area of low pressure.
 The distance between two successive compressions or
rarefactions equals to one wave length ( λ)
 The distance between a compression and adjacent
rarefaction is equal to half wave length ()
Surface wave
 A surface wave is a mechanical wave that propagates along
the interface between differing media.
 A surface wave is a wave in which particles of the medium
undergo a circular motion.
 Surface waves are neither longitudinal nor transverse.
 In a surface wave, it is only the particles at the surface of
the medium that undergo the circular motion.
 The motion of particles tends to decrease as one proceeds
further from the surface.
• In a surface wave, particles of the medium vibrate both up
and down and back and forth, so they end up moving in a
circle.
• A surface wave is combination of a transverse wave and a
longitudinal wave.
8.3 Waves characteristics and behaviours
All waves have commonly the following some characteristics
 A wavelength (λ) is the distance between two successive
points on a wave
 Amplitude (A): is the maximum displacement of any
particle of the medium from its equilibrium position.
• The time period (T) is the time taken for one complete
wave to pass a given point or to make one complete wave or
cycle.
• The frequency (f) is the number of complete waves passing
a given point per second.
• This can be determined by the number of crests/
troughs or compressions/rarefactions that pass a
given point per second.
• The higher the frequency, the greater the number of
the waves per second.
• measured in hertz (Hz)

• The relationship between time period (T) and

frequency (f) is
Speed of waves
• The wave speed (v) is defined as the distance the
wave travels or propagates in one second.

• If a wave travels a distance of one wavelength ( λ)

in one period (T), then the wave speed is given
by

• The equation that related, wave speed, wavelength

and frequency of the wave is known as wave
equation.
Waves behaviours
• All types of waves can undergo reflection,
refraction, diffraction, and interference.
Reflection
 All waves are known to undergo reflection or the
bouncing off of an obstacle.
 Consider when light ray strikes the boundary
between two media, the reflection might be either
Specular or Diffuse reflections.
 Light reflection from smooth surfaces such as
mirrors or a calm body of water is known as regular
reflection or specular reflection.
 Reflection of light from rough surfaces or irregular
boundaries such as clothing, paper, and the asphalt roadway
leads to a type of reflection known as diffuse reflection.

 A light beam can be thought of as a bundle of individual

light rays which are traveling parallel to each other
 Reflection is a sudden change in the direction of
propagation of a wave that strikes the boundary
between two different media.
 It occurs when the waves bounce back to the first medium
by changing its direction.
 Assume the incoming light ray makes an angle with the
normal perpendicular to the surface.
 Then the reflected ray makes an angle with this normal and
lies in the same plane as the incident ray and the normal.
The law of reflection of waves
1) The incident rays, reflected rays and the normal line
all lie in the same plane.
2) The angle of incident ray is equal to the angle of
reflected ray. (
Refraction
• Refraction is the change in direction of propagation of a
wave when the wave passes from one medium into another,
and changes its speed.
• Light travels in straight lines at a constant speed in a
uniform medium.
• If the medium changes, the speed will also change and the
light will travel in a straight line along a new path.
• The bending of light ray as it passes obliquely from one
medium to another is known as refraction
• The principle of refraction is illustrated in Figure for
light wave entering water from air.
• The angle the incident beam makes with the normal
to the surface is refracted to as the angle of
incidence.
• The angle between the refracted beam and the
normal is called the angle of refraction.
• What happens to the waves as they pass into the
glass and continue to travel through the water?
• The speed of light in glass or water is less than the speed of
light in a vacuum or air.
• The speed of light in a given substance and in vacuum can
be related by index of refraction.
• Index of refraction is the ratio of the velocity of light in
vacuum(c) to the velocity of light in a particular medium.
• It is a number which gives a measure of the
refraction or „ bending‟ of light when it travels from
one medium to another.
• the speed of light in vacuum or air and in medium
can be expressed as:
and
• We have seen that light slows down when passing into a
medium of greater optical density.
• Since the frequency of the wave is the same in medium-1 as
it is in medium-2, but the speed reduced due to the decrease
in its wavelength.
• From equation of wave, , we have the following relations.
 and
Then,
 Where n1 and n2 are refractive index of medium-1 and
medium-2 respectively.
Snell’s Law
 Snell’s law gives the degree of refraction and relation
among the angle of incidence, the angle of refraction and
refractive indices of a given pair of media.
 It is also known as the law of refraction.
• Snell’s law is defined as “The ratio of the sine of the angle
of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a
constant, for the light of a given colour and for the given
pair of media”.
• This constant value is called the refractive index of
the second medium with respect to the first medium
(vacuum).
• If the boundary is with vacuum or air, the constant is
the refractive index of the medium.

• If the light crosses a boundary between any two

media, the snell’s law can be expressed in the form:
During refraction of light, the wavelength and the
speed of the wave is changed. But the frequency
is unchanged
Diffraction
• Diffraction is the spreading out of the wave when the wave
passes through gap or around an obstacle.
• Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes around
the edge of an object.
• The amount of bending depends on the relative size of the
wavelength of light to the size of the opening.
• It occurs when the size of the aperture or obstacle is of the
same order of magnitude as the wavelength of the incident
wave.
• If the opening is much larger than the light's
wavelength, the bending will be almost
unnoticeable.
• The amount of bending depends on the relative size
of the wavelength of light to the size of the opening
or gap.
• The effect of diffraction is the greatest when the
width of the gap is the same as the wavelength of
the wave.
 Interference of waves
• When two or more waves propagate through a single
medium simultaneously, they interfere or mix.

•
• Such mixing of waves due to the simultaneous propagation
of waves is known as interference.
• When they interfere or mix they add up or cancel out each
other based on superposition principle.
• The superposition principle states that when two or more
waves overlap or interfere in space, the resultant disturbance
is equal to the algebraic sum of the individual disturbances.
• This can be done by adding their amplitude algebraically.
• Superposition is the combination of two or more waves at
the same location.
 There are two types of interferences such as constructive
interference and destructive.
Constructive interference
 Consider two sine pulses move towards each other.
 Constructive interference occurs whenever these waves
come together so that they are in phase with each other.
 This means that their oscillations at a given point are in the
same direction, the resulting amplitude at that point being
much larger than the amplitude of an individual wave.
• For two waves of equal amplitude interfering
constructively, the resulting amplitude is twice as large as
the amplitude of an individual wave.

• Completely constructive interference occurs when the two

waves are superimposed in phase.
• when waves are interfering constructively, all the crests line
up with the crests and the troughs line up with the troughs.
Destructive interference
• In destructive interference, the two waves cancel out
resulting in lower amplitude at the point they meet.
•

• If the interfering pulses have the same maximum amplitude

and opposite directions, then the resulting wave is
completely destroyed
• No resultant wave is obtained; the graph will be a
horizontal straight line.

• Completely destructive interference occurs when two

identical waves are superimposed exactly out of phase.
• That is, when the crest of the first wave falls exactly on the
trough of the second wave or if the two points on each point
are out of phase by 1800.
8.4 Sound waves
Production of sound waves
• Sound waves are longitudinal mechanical waves and
produced by oscillation or vibration of particles of the
medium.
• Sound waves are a series of compressions and rarefactions.
• Different musical instruments produce sound by making a
part of the instrument vibrate.
Propagation of Sound waves
• sound wave needs a material medium for its propagation
and transporting energy.
• It travels through solids, liquids and gases. It does not travel
in vacuum.
Audible and Inaudible Sounds
• The human ear can easily detect frequencies between 20 Hz
and 20 kHz.
• Hence, sound waves with frequency ranging from 20 Hz to
20 kHz is known are audible sound.
• The human ear is sensitive to every minute pressure
difference in the air if they are in the audible frequency
range.
• This varies from person to person and factors such as age
and exposure to loud music dramatically changes this range.
• For a normal middle-aged adult person, the highest
frequency which they can hear clearly is 12-14 kHz.
 Human ear cannot detect sound frequencies less than 20
vibrations per second i.e. 20 Hz.
 So any sound below this frequency will be inaudible sound
for humans.
 In the high-frequency range, the human ear cannot detect
frequencies above 20,000 vibrations per second (20 kHz).
 So the frequencies below 20 Hz and above 20 kHz come
under the category of inaudible frequencies.
• The low-frequency sound which the human ear
cannot detect is also known as infrasonic sound.
• Whereas the higher range inaudible frequency is
also known as ultrasonic sound.
• Some animals like dogs have the ability to hear
sounds having frequencies higher than 20 kHz.
The speed of sound in different materials
• the degree of transmission of sound is different for
different media.
• The speed of sound varies greatly depending upon
the medium it is traveling through.
• The speed of sound in a medium is determined by a
combination of the medium’s rigidity (or compressibility in
gases) and its density.
• The more rigid (or less compressible) the medium is, the
faster the speed of sound..
• sound travels faster through solids than liquids and faster
through liquids than gases.
The speed of sound in air
 Speed of sound in air varies with the temperature of the air.
 When the gas is at a higher temperature, the average kinetic
energy of the particles is higher.
 This means on average the particles are moving faster.
 The faster the particles are moving, the faster the speed of
sound through the gas.
 Experiment and theory show that the speed of sound v in air
increases approximately by 0.6m/s for every degree Celsius
rise in temperature.
 The relationship between the speed of sound and
temperature is given by:
Or it is given by

where 331 m/s is the speed of sound in air at at sea level and
T is the absolute (in Kelvin) temperature.
Example
What is the speed of sound in air at temperature of 60 ℃?
Reflection of sound

• Sound waves, like other waves, show the property of

reflection.

• An echo is a single reflection of a sound wave off a distance

surface.

• Reverberation is the reflection of sound waves created by

the superposition of such echoes.

• The human ear can distinguish an echo that comes

0.1second after the emission of the original sound.

• If the time between hearing the original sound and
the echo is less than 0.1sec, the original sound
appears to be prolonged, this is called reverberation.
• An echo can only be heard by humans when the
distance between the source of the sound and the
reflecting body is about 17m and the speed sound in
air during this time is about 340m/s, keeping that the
temperature of sound is constant.
• If the reflecting surface is “S” distance from the
source and “t” is the time taken by the observer to
hear echo, the velocity of sound v can be calculated
as follow.
Application of Echoes
• Echoes have different applications.
 To determine the speed of sound in air, to determine the
depth of the sea or ocean, for medical diagnosis
• for echolocation, for blind person in finding their way, for
find oil (mineral) underground etc.
Determination of the depth of a well:
• When a sound is produced at the mouth of the well, it is
reflected from its water surface heard in the form of an
echo.
• The time between the production of sound and the hearing
of echo is determined by means of a stopwatch.
• Let, depth of well = d the time difference between the
production of sound and hearing of echo = t
• Now the distance travelled by reflected sound to the
listener is 2d and therefore,

Flying of the bat

• Bat flies using the echo of sound as it cannot see.
• Bat can produce and hear an ultrasonic sound.
• Bats produce ultrasonic sounds, which mean
that the sounds exist at frequencies higher than
humans can hear. Bat calls can range from
9 kHz to 200 kHz.
• They spread this sound forward which reflects back to the
bats from a reflector.
• Since bats cannot see from their eyes, so they use
the method of echolocation to situate their ways.
• Therefore, Bats can understand from the reflected
sound if there is an object before it.
• They hunt their prey using this technique.

Echo-depth sounding
• Ships emit or transmit water sound waves under to the
bottom of a sea and measure the time interval for the
reflected wave or echo to return to the receiver.
• The device used for this purpose is called SONAR (Sound
Navigation and Ranging).
• A sonar device sends out a sound and mechanically
calculates the distance of an object.
• Using this technique the depth of the sea can be
determined
Echo is used in SONAR to find the depth of seas or
distance of submarines.
Submarines use sonar to find objects under the
water, including other submarines.
It also helps to estimate the distance between two
hills or mountains.
• Medical Uses:
• Echo is used by doctors in a technique called
echocardiography in which ultrasonic waves are
made to reflect from various parts of the hearts and
from an image of the heart.
• An echocardiogram (echo) is a graphic outline of
the heart's movement.
• During an echo test, ultrasound from a hand-held
wand placed on your chest provides pictures of the
heart's valves and chambers and helps the
sonographer evaluate the pumping action of the
heart.
Other application of Echoes
• Blind people can be helped to see with ultrasonic torches.

• The torches bounce ultrasonic wave off nearby objects.

They produce a high sound which increases in frequency as
objects get nearer to torch.

• Geologists looking for oil sometimes send vibrations down

into the earth by using vibrations or explosions.

• Such vibrations are called Seismic waves.

• The waves are reflected back to the surface from the
various layers of rock deep down in the ground.
• The time taken for the reflected waves to reach
different point on the surface is recorded using
special sensors.
• In this way, geologists find out the depth, shape and
spacing of the underground rock.
Characteristics of sound
Loudness
• Loudness is audible strength of sound which depends on the
amplitude of the sound wave.
• When the amplitude is high, it will produce a sound that is
loud and when the amplitude is low, it will produce a sound
that is soft.
Pitch
 Pitch is the quality of sound which makes some sounds
seems higher or lower than others.
• It is determined by the number of vibrations
produced during a given time period.
• The vibration rate of a sound is called its frequency
and then it depends upon frequency.
• The higher the frequency of the sound waves is, the
higher their pitch.
• Pitch denotes the shrillness or flatness of a sound.
• We can identify a female and male voice without
seeing them.
• A woman’s voice generally has a high pitch than a
man’s voice.
• This is because the frequency of a woman’s voice is higher
Timbre (Quality)
• Timbre is the quality of sound which allows us to
distinguish between different sound sources producing
sound at the same pitch and loudness.
• The vibration of sound waves is quite complex; most
sounds vibrate at several frequencies simultaneously.
• The additional frequencies are called overtones or
harmonics.
• The relative strength of these overtones helps to determine a
sound's timbre.
• The difference between pitch and timbre
 Pitch allows us to hear intonation in a language and
notes in a melody.
 Timbre allows us to distinguish the vowels and
consonants that make up words, as well as the
unique sound qualities of different musical
instruments.
 Combinations of pitch and timbre enable us to
identify a speaker's voice or a piece of music.
Sound Intensity and Distance
• The amount of energy that is transported past a given area
of the medium per unit of time is known as the intensity of
the sound wave.
• The amount of energy carried by sound waves depends on
how much energy is given to the vibrating body.
• The intensity of sound depends on different factors such as
it is:
 directly proportional to the square of the amplitude of
vibrations (I ).
 inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between the source and the observer(I ).
 directly proportional to the density of the medium (I
).
 directly proportional to the surface area of the
vibrating body(I).
 directly proportional to the square of the frequency
of the source (I ).
 directly proportional to the motion or speed of the
particles of the medium (I )
Generally, they combine together to give a good
understanding about the intensity of sound as follow:
Where f is the frequency of the wave, A is the
amplitude of the sound wave, is the density of the sound wave
and v is the speed of sound.
 If the amplitude of vibration of a sound is small, the energy
carried by the wave is also small.
 The greater the amplitude of vibrations of the particles of
the medium is, the greater the rate at which energy is
transported through it, and the more intense that the sound
wave is.
• The intensity of a sound wave is defined as the rate of flow
of energy through a given unit area perpendicular to the
direction of the wave propagation.
• Energy per unit time is power, and then intensity is defined
as the energy/time/area or:

• The SI-units for expressing the intensity of a sound wave is

Watts/ (W/)
• When a sound wave carries energy through a medium the
intensity of the sound wave decreases with increasing a
distance from the source.

• Alternatively the sound intensity from source can be

calculated assuming the sound spreads out equally in all
directions.
Where P is the constant power of the source and A is the area
of a sphere around the source.

For any two points 1 and 2 around the source, the intensity of
sound can be expressed as:
and
• Example:
The Intensity of sound produced from a certain
source is found to be 10-3W/m2 at 5cm away from
the source.
• a) What will be the intensity of the same sound at
distance of 15cm?
b) What power is delivered by the source to its
surroundings?
• Intensity Level in Decibels
• The faintest sound that the normal human ear can detect has
an intensity of .
• This intensity is known as the threshold of hearing.
• The most intense sound that the human ear can safely
detect without suffering any physical damage is more than
one billion times more intense than the threshold of hearing.
• This loudest sound that normal human ear can tolerate is
called threshold of pain. Its intensity is about 1 .
• The intensity level of a sound relates the intensity of
any given sound to the intensity at the threshold of hearing.
• It is measured in decibels (dB).
• A decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit used to measure sound
level.
• The scale for measuring intensity is the decibel scale.

Where is the intensity of threshold hearing and I is the

intensity of a given sound.
Example
1) Compute the intensity level of sound whose intensity is:
a) at the pain threshold. b) 1xW/m2