PHY-401

Waves and Oscillations

BS Physics
3rd Semester

Dr. Ejaz Ahmed

Department of Physics
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan
Waves in Physical Media

Lecture 11
 Lecture 11: Topics to be Covered

❑ Travelling waves

❑ Sinusoidal waves
 Travelling or Progressive Wave

The wave which transfer energy in moving away from the source of disturbance is
called a travelling or progressive wave.

Radio waves Seismic waves Water waves

Travelling Waves
 Traveling Waves

Figure: (a) A transverse pulse, shown as a snapshot

at time 𝒕 = 𝟎. The point 𝑷 represents a particular
location on the phase of the pulse.
(b) At a time 𝒕 later, the pulse has moved a distance
𝒗𝒕 in the positive x-direction. The point 𝑷 on the
𝒙 phase has also moved a distance 𝒗𝒕. The peak of the
pulse defines the origin of the 𝒙′ coordinate.

At 𝒕 = 𝟎

𝑃𝑓 𝑥 𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚 𝒙 = 𝒇 𝒙 𝒙 = 𝒙′ + 𝒗𝒕
At some later time 𝒕 = 𝒕 or
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒇 𝒙′ 𝒙′ = 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕
𝒔 = 𝒗𝒕 𝒙′
𝒙 𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒇 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕
Equation of motion for Transverse Traveling Waves

➢ Any function of 𝒙 + 𝒗𝒕 will be representing the travelling wave moving

along positive 𝒙 − 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

➢ For negative 𝒙 − 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, the wave will be represented by the 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕 .

 Traveling Waves
As an example of a mechanical wave, we consider a transverse waveform that travels on a long-
stretched string. We assume an “ideal” string, in which the disturbance, whether it is a pulse or a train of
waves, keeps its form as it travels. For this to occur, frictional losses and other means of energy
dissipation must be negligibly small. The disturbance lies in the 𝑥𝑦 − 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒 and travels in the positive
𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒇 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕
This is the equation of a travelling wave moving along the positive 𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. The function y(x, t)
contains the complete description of the shape of the wave and its motion.

Let us follow the motion of a particular part (or phase) of the wave. If the wave is to keep its shape as it
travels, then the 𝒚 − 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 of a point 𝑷 must not change. The only way this can happen if the 𝒙 −
𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 of 𝑷, to increase as 𝒕 increases in such a way that the quantity 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕 keeps a fixed value.
This remains true for any location on the waveform and for all times 𝒕. Thus, for the motion of any phase
of the wave we must have
𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕 = 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕
 Traveling Waves
We can verify that this equation characterizes the motion of the phase of the waveform by differentiating
with respect to time, which gives
𝒅𝒙
−𝒗=𝟎
𝒅𝒕

𝒅𝒙
=𝒗
𝒅𝒕

The velocity 𝒅𝒙/𝒅𝒕 describes the motion of the phase of the wave, and so it is known as the phase
velocity. We take 𝒗 to be a positive constant, independent of any property of the wave but depending on
properties of the medium.

If the wave moves in the negative 𝒙 − 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, all we need do is replace 𝒗 by −𝒗. In this case we would
obtain
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒇 𝒙 + 𝒗𝒕
 Sinusoidal Waves
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒇 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕
The above equation is quite general. It holds for arbitrary wave
shapes, and it holds for transverse as well as longitudinal waves.

Let us consider, for example, a transverse waveform having a

sinusoidal shape, which has particularly important applications.
Suppose that at the time 𝒕 = 𝟎 we have a wave train along the Figure: At t = 0 (darker color), the string has the
𝟐𝝅
string given by sinusoidal shape given by 𝒚 𝒙, 𝟎 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝝀 𝒙 . At a
𝟐𝝅 later time, t (lighter color), the wave has moved to the
𝒚 𝒙, 𝟎 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒙 right a distance 𝒙 = 𝒗𝒕, and the string has a shape
𝝀 𝟐𝝅
given by 𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝝀 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕

The wave shape is shown in Figure. The maximum displacement 𝒚𝒎 is called the amplitude of the sine curve.
The value of the transverse displacement 𝒚 is the same at any 𝒙 as it is at 𝒙 + 𝝀, 𝒙 + 𝟐𝝀, and so on. The
symbol 𝝀 represents the wavelength of the wave train and indicates the distance between two adjacent points in
the wave having the same phase.
 Sinusoidal Waves

If the wave travels in the + 𝒙 direction with phase speed 𝒗, then the equation of the wave is

𝟐𝝅
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕
𝝀

Note that this has the form 𝒇 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕 required for a traveling wave.

The period 𝑻 of the wave is the time necessary for a point at any particular 𝒙 − 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 to undergo

one complete cycle of transverse motion. During this time 𝑻, the wave travels a distance 𝒗𝑻 that must

correspond to one wavelength 𝝀, so that

𝝀 = 𝒗𝑻
 Sinusoidal Waves

𝟐𝝅
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒕
𝝀

The inverse of the period is called the frequency 𝒇 of the wave:

𝒇 = 𝟏Τ𝑻. Frequency has units of cycles per second, or hertz (Hz).

Putting 𝝀 = 𝒗𝑻 in the above equation, we obtain another

expression for the wave: Figure: Some of the important quantities
𝒙 𝒕
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝟐𝝅 − used to describe a periodic sinusoidal wave.
𝝀 𝑻
𝟐𝝅 𝟐𝝅
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒙− 𝒕
𝝀 𝑻
From this form it is clear that 𝒚, at any given time, has the same value at x, 𝒙 + 𝝀, 𝒙 + 𝟐𝝀 , and so on,

and that y, at any given position, has the same value at the times t, t + T, t +2T, and so on.
 Sinusoidal Waves
To reduce the above equation to a more compact form, we introduce two quantities, the wave number 𝒌

and the angular frequency 𝝎. They are defined by

𝟐𝝅 𝟐𝝅
𝒌= and 𝝎= = 𝟐𝝅𝒇
𝝀 𝑻
The wave number k is, like 𝝎, an angular quantity, and units for both involve radians. Units for k might be,
for instance, rad/m, and for 𝝎, rad/s. In terms of these quantities, the equation of a sine wave traveling
in the positive x- direction
𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒙 − 𝝎𝒕

The equation of a sine wave traveling in the negative 𝒙 − 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒚 𝒙, 𝒕 = 𝒚𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒙 + 𝝎𝒕

𝟐𝝅 𝟐𝝅
Comparing 𝝀 = 𝒗𝑻 , 𝒌 = and 𝝎= = 𝟐𝝅𝒇 , we see that the phase velocity 𝒗 of the wave
𝝀 𝑻
(which we will often call the wave speed) is given by
𝝀 𝝎
𝒗 = 𝝀𝒇 = =
𝑻 𝒌
 Video Lectures to Watch

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu1PC4botbM (Traveling Waves)

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfYCnOvNnFU (Traveling Waves: Crash Course Physics #17)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHzJrLDQk8E&t=55s (Mathematical Representation of Moving
Waves)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sO-L3F9X_k (Travelling waves part 1 - definition and
explanation)
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKrKrS5sO4 (Travelling waves part 2 - pulse and definitions)
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcIB5lT6Wqc (Lec 16. Traveling waves, Equation of Traveling
waves, Phase velocity. Dr. Nisar Ahmad)