A-1.

Travelling waves - fundamentals

Waves are disturbances that move through a medium. Typically, these disturbances
are repeated at regular intervals. In such cases, the elements of the medium undergo
harmonic motion.
Propagation of a disturbance. All mechanical waves require:
 some source of disturbance.
 a medium through which the wave can propagate.
 a physical mechanism through which the elements of the medium can
influence each other.
Waves may be transverse or longitudinal.
Transverse pulse: The disturbance is at right angles to the direction of propagation.

Longitudinal travelling wave: disturbance is parallel to direction of propagation.

Consider the following one-dimensional sinusoidal wave travelling with speed v in

the positive x-direction.

There is no need for the wave to go through the origin at t = 0. To shift the wave form
along the axis to any arbitrary position, we introduce the phase constant  (note that,
with string as displayed in the diagram, the phase constant would be 0).
 2π 
At t = 0: The displacement y, at any position x, is given by y  A sin  x  
  
At a later time t: Displacement of point P at x at time 0 = displacement of P’ at x + vt .
The corollary is that (y at point P at time t) = (original y at a point x – vt).

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  2 
So y ( x, t )  y ( x  vt , 0)  A sin  ( x  vt )    .
  
Recall the definitions for wave number k and angular velocity  that should be
familiar to you from the physics of simple harmonic motion:
2π 2π 2πv
k   2πf   .
 T 
Hence y  A sin(kx  t   ) .
Task A.1 Show that this wave moves in the direction of the positive x-axis.
Furthermore, determine the criteria required for a wave to move (i) in the positive and
(ii) in the negative direction.
Task A.2 Confirm that each point x undergoes simple harmonic motion in the y-
direction.
We can now determine the velocity and acceleration of a wave element in the
direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation:
dy
vy    A cos( kx  t   )
dt
d2y
a y  2   A 2 sin( kx  t   )   2 y
dt
For longitudinal waves, analogous expressions apply for x, vx and ax.
d2y
One can similarly also show that 2
  Ak 2 sin(kx  t   )  k 2 y
dx
It follows that for a function describing a travelling wave,
d2y k2 d2y 1 d2y
 
dx 2  2 dt 2 v 2 dt 2
This is also referred to as the wave equation.
Task A.3 Show that y  A cos(kx  t   ) and y  A exp(i (kx  t   )) also satisfy
the wave equation.

Example A.1 A transverse traveling wave on a taut wire has an amplitude of 0.090
mm and a frequency of 625 Hz. It travels with a speed of 200 m/s. Write out the full
form of this wave.
Example A.2 A transverse sinusoidal wave on a string has a period T = 30 ms and
travels in the negative x-direction with a speed of 20 m/s. Write down the wave
function for the wave. (Leave the amplitude as A and the phase shift as )
Example A.3 A sinusoidal wave travelling in the positive x-direction has an
amplitude of 5 cm, a wavelength of 20 cm and a frequency of 4 Hz. The vertical
position of an element of the medium at t = 0 and x = 0 is also 5 cm.
i) Find the wave number k, period T, angular frequency ω and speed v of the wave
ii) Determine the phase constant and write a general expression for the wave function.

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Example A.4 The sinusoidal wave shown in the diagram at t = 0 moves in the
positive x-direction and has a frequency of 4 Hz.

i) Calculate the wave number, angular frequency and speed of the wave
ii) Determine the phase constant  in the equation y(x,t) = A sin(kx–t+) for this
wave
iii) Determine the maximum acceleration in the y-direction of the wave.
Example A.5 Consider the photograph of a specific travelling wave, taken when t =
1 s, and depicted below.

A particle P on the string is at that moment accelerating downward at 32 cm/s2.

Calculate the horizontal speed of this wave.

A-2. Superposition of waves

Superposition Principle:
When two or more waves move in a medium then the net displacement at a point is
the algebraic sum of all displacements at that point.
Interference:
Constructive – when the interference is such that peaks tend to enhance each other.
Destructive – when the interference is such that peaks tend to cancel each other out.
Mathematically, the superposition
principle implies that if two waves
coexist in the same medium, then y, the
function describing the resulting wave, is
the sum of the individual waves y1 and y2
at all points. Thus
y  y1  y2 .
Two waves can pass through each other
without being destroyed or being altered.

(diagram from Serway & Jewett)

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Let us examine what happens when one combines two waves of equal amplitude,
wavelength and speed. Let these waves move in the same direction, and let their
respective phase angles be 1 and 2.
Task A.4 Show that this results in a wave with the same wavelength and speed, the
equation for which is
y ( x, t )  2 A cos( 12 (2  1 ))sin(kx  t  12 (1  2 )) .
In other words, the resultant wave, which has the same wave number k and angular
velocity  as the original two waves, now has an amplitude A’ and phase angle ’,
where A  2 A cos( 12 (2  1 )) ;    12 (1  2 )

Example A.6 Two pulses A and B are moving in opposite directions along a taut
string with a speed of 4 cm/s.

Sketch the shape of the string at (i) t = 1 s later; (ii) t = 1.5 s later; (iii) t = 2 s later; (iv)
t = 1 s if pulse B is inverted (i.e. its displacement is in the negative y-direction).
Example A.7 Try to make a (rough) sketch of the combined wave resulting from
i) the superposition of two waves with equal amplitude, speed, direction and phase
constant, but where the wavelength of the second wave is twice that of the first wave.
ii) the superposition of a triangular wave and a square wave of the same amplitude,
wavelength, speed and direction, but where the phase shift between these waves is  =
90.
Example A.8 Two otherwise identical waves, but with different phase shifts, are
moving in the same direction along a string. What is the difference between the two
phase shifts of the combined wave has exactly the same amplitude as the two
individual waves?

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A-3. Standing waves
A standing wave is a scenario where the displacement of a point at time t along an
axis x is represented by
y ( x, t )  Amax sin( kx) cos(t ) .
Task A.5 Explore the behaviour of this function for different values of x and t.
What then is the relationship of the standing wave to travelling waves?
We will see now that the standing wave is the natural outcome of applying the
superposition principle to two otherwise identical waves moving in opposite
directions.
Task A.6 Prove that two waves of equal amplitude, wavelength and speed moving in
opposite directions result in a standing wave. Furthermore, how are Amax, k and 
related to the properties of these two waves?
Diagram showing a standing wave generated from two identical waves moving in
opposite directions:

At every point x the string element is undergoing simple harmonic motion at an

angular velocity , and with an amplitude given by the expression
A( x)  Amax sin( kx) .

Points where the amplitude is at a minimum (where A(x) = 0) are referred to as nodes,
while points where the amplitude reach maximum are called antinodes.
Task A.7 What values of x (in terms of wavelength) correspond to (i) nodes and (ii)
antinodes?
We can now explore some special cases where the layout determines the positions of
the nodes and antinodes:
i) a string fixed at both ends. This means that both end points are forced to be nodes.
ii) a vuvuzela. Air oscillates where the player blows into the vuvuzela, as well as at
the other end where the sound comes out. Here both ends are antinodes.
iii) a glass. When tapped, air oscillates at the opening at the top of the glass, while air
cannot oscillate at the bottom. So here we have a node at the bottom of the glass and
an antinode at the top.
Task A.8 Examine in the above scenarios the relationship between the length of the
device and the frequencies and wavelengths that can be produced.

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 Example A.9 A travelling wave with amplitude 3 cm moves in the negative x-
direction with a speed of 20 m.s–1 and it makes particles on the string oscillate up and
down with a period of 0.4 s. It encounters an otherwise identical wave moving in the
opposite direction. Determine the equation for the resulting wave form (you can
ignore possible phase constants).
Example A.10 A standing wave pattern is observed in a thin wire with a length of
2.5 m. The equation of the wave is
y = (2 mm) sin(2x) cos(100t)
where x is in meters and t in seconds.
i) How many antinodes are there on this wire?
ii) What is the amplitude of oscillation at the point x = 1 m ?
iii) What is the frequency of vibration of this wire if the standing wave is changed so
that nodes are only seen at the two ends of the wire?
Example A.11 A vuvuzela has a length of 0.5 m, and the speed of sound in air is
about 330 m.s–1.
i) Determine the frequencies of the three dominant sounds exiting the vuvuzela (i.e.
the ones associated with the longest wavelengths).
ii) What would the answer be if you block one of the two openings of the vuvuzela?

A-4. More characteristics of waves

A-4.1 The power of waves
Let me state upfront that, regardless of the nature of the wave and medium, the power
delivered by a wave is (i)  (amplitude)2, and (ii)  (frequency)2.
While the derivation of the above differs from one type of wave to another, let us
prove this dependence for the most straightforward case – a wave on a thin string with
uniform linear density .

Consider an infinitesimal section dx of the string illustrated above, where a traveling

wave of wavelength λ is moving in the positive direction with a speed v.
The mass of this infinitesimal section of string dm = dx.
Task A.9 Show that the potential and kinetic energy of a segment of the string of
length equal to one wavelength are both equal to ¼ 2A2λ.
1
Task A.10 Hence show that the power transmitted by this wave is  2 A2 v .
2
While this derivation was for a very specific scenario, the result that a wave’s
delivered power is proportional to A2 applies in other situations as well.

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The conservation of energy principle implies that, provided there is no change of
medium (i.e.  and v stay constant) and with the frequency maintained constant due to
continuity considerations, the amplitude of a wave moving along a specified axis must
remain constant.
Waves are however not constrained no move in one direction only. A good example is
what happens when the surface of a body of water is disturbed (e.g. by dropping a
stone in it). In this scenario waves move radially outwards in a two-dimensional
surface. The wave therefore grows and grows in length (i.e. the circumference of the
expanding circles gets larger and larger). The energy density per unit volume of the
medium then decreases by a factor of 1/r.
When a wave expands in a three dimensional medium (e.g. a sound wave), the wave
front grows spherically. In this scenario, the energy density per unit volume of the
medium decreases by a factor of 1/r2.
Task A.11 Show that for two- and three-dimensional undamped expanding waves,
the amplitude decreases by a factor of 1/r and 1/r respectively.

A-4.2 Transmission from one medium to another

What happens at the boundary between two media is again best explained by looking
at the example of a transverse wave moving along a string. Think of what happens to
the wave when a string with linear density 1 is tied to another string of linear density
2. Let the wave move from string 1 across the boundary to string 2.

Task A.12 Why must the wave have the same (i) amplitude and (ii) frequency in
string 1 and string 2?
Note that as the amplitude and frequency remain unchanged, the power of the wave
also stays the same as it moves into the new medium – this is consistent with the
principle of the conservation of energy!
What about the speed of the wave and the wavelength in the new medium?
In the case of a transverse wave on a string, the speed of the wave is proportional to
1/ (the proof is given in many first-year textbooks – check it out there if you are
interested – but this proof will not be required in this course). So clearly the speeds of
the wave cannot be the same in both strings.
Task A.13 Determine the relationship between the wavelengths and linear densities
in the two strings.

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A-4.3 Damping of waves
Almost all waves are affected by damping, which in essence is due to frictional or
other heat losses as the wave moves through a medium.
You looked at damping in your Classical Mechanics course. Recall that the damping
force is proportional to an object’s speed in a medium (not to be confused with v, the
speed of the wave).
d2y dy
So as the driving force F  ma  2
and the damping force Fdamping  ,
dt dt
we can adjust the wave equation as follows:
d2y 1 d2y dy
2
 2 2 
dx v dt dt
where  is a constant.
Task A.14 Show that this equation is satisfied when y takes the form
y ( x, t )  A exp( x) exp(i (kx   t )) .
Task A.15 Determine what happened to the amplitude of this wave, and hence draw
a rough sketch of this expression.

A-4.4 Beats
We now examine what happens when you superimpose similar waves that only differ
slightly in wavelength/frequency.
Task A.16 Show that two waves y1, y2 with equal speeds v, equal amplitudes A and
similar frequencies f1, f2 yield a beat pattern where the resulting wave has the same
speed and the average frequency fav = ½(f1 + f2).
The resulting wave form is illustrated below. The modulated amplitude is referred to
as beating. In the case of a sound wave, this would sound similar to a police or
ambulance siren, with a pulse-like amplitude.

hyperphysics.phy-astro.gsu.edu
Task A.17 Further show that the amplitude of the signal at any specific point x
varies between 0 and 2A with a beat frequency fbeat = f1 – f2.

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Example A.12 A sinusoidal wave on a string is described by the wave function
y  0.15sin(0.80 x  50t )
where x and y are in meters and t is in seconds. The mass per unit length of this string
is 12.0 g.m–1. Determine the power transmitted by the wave.
Example A.13 A stone is dropped into a lake.
i) The surface water waves generated by this have an amplitude of 0.25 cm at a
distance 8 m from where the stone hit the water. What will be their amplitude 20 m
from the impact spot if we assume that there is no dampening of the wave?
ii) How much louder (in terms of energy per unit volume) will the sound of the stone
hitting the water be 10 m above the point of impact compared to 20 m above the point
of impact?
Example A.14 A string A with linear mass density 2.5 g.cm–1 is tied to a string B
with a linear mass density of 1.5 g.cm–1. A travelling wave moves in the positive x-
direction along string A towards string B with an amplitude of 2.0 cm, a speed of 6.0
m.s–1 and a wavelength of 0.05 m. What will be the equation for this travelling wave
when it is transmitted to string B (you can ignore the phase constant)?
Example A.15 At point A, a damped travelling wave moving along the x-axis has an
amplitude of 10 cm and it delivers a power of 0.2 W. At point B, which has an x-value
of 5 m higher than point A, the amplitude of the wave is 8 cm. What will be the power
delivered by the wave at point C, which is 10 m beyond point B?
Example A.16 The amplitude of a travelling wave of with a speed of 200 m.s–1 and a
wavelength of 0.4 m that exhibits beats with a period of 0.5 s attains a maximum
value of 6 cm. Determine the equation of the two travelling waves that were
superimposed to generate this beating pattern (you can ignore the phase constant).

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