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Gullett-Physics-Unt1
Physics-Unit1-Sound
Term | Definition |
---|---|
vibration | a periodic wiggle in time |
wave | a periodic wiggle in time and space |
mechanical wave | wave that requires a medium to travel through |
electromagnetic wave | wave that does not require a medium to travel through |
period | the time required for one complete cycle |
amplitude | the maximum displacement on either side of the equilibrium (mid-point or home) position |
wavelength | distance between successive troughs, crests or identical portions of a wave |
frequency | number of crests that pass a particular point in a given time |
hertz | unit of measurement for frequency. 1 hertz = 1 vibration per second |
wave speed | speed at which waves pass a particular point |
transverse wave | wave with vibration at right angle to the direction of the wave, example - light waves |
longitudinal wave | wave in which the particles in the medium vibrate back and forth in the direction the wave travels, example - sound |
interference pattern | pattern formed by the overlapping of two or more waves that arrive in a region at the same time |
destructive interference | when the crest of one wave overlaps the trough of another way and the amplitude of the resulting wave amplitudes are smaller or zero |
constructive interference | when the crests of two waves line up together resulting a higher amplitude |
standing wave | stationary wave pattern formed in a medium when two sets of identical waves pass through the medium in opposite directions. The wave appears not to be traveling. |
doppler effect | change in the frequency of a wave due to the motion of the source or the receiver. |
blue shift | an increase in frequency(toward the blue end of spectrum) |
red shift | a decrease in frequency (toward the red end of the spectrum) |
bow wave | V-shaped wave produced by an object moving on a liquid surface faster than the wave speed |
shock wave | cone shaped wave produced by an object moving a supersonic speed through a fluid |
sonic boom | loud sound resulting from the incidence of a shock wave |
pitch | the highness or lowness of a tone related to wave frequency |
infrasonic | sound too low to be heard by humans, waves with a frequency below 20 hertz |
ultrasonic | sound too high to be heard by humans, waves with a frequency above 20,000 hertz |
compression | condensed region of the medium through which a longitudinal wave travels |
rarefaction | rarefied (reduced pressure) area of the medium through which a longitudinal wave travels |
reverberation | persistance of sound, as in an echo, due to multiple reflections |
refraction | bending of sound or any wave caused by a difference in wave speeds |
forced vibration | the setting up of vibrations in an object by a vibrating force |
natural frequency | a frequency at which an elastic object naturally tends to vibrate if it is disturbed and the disturbaing force is removed |
resonance | the response of a body when a forcing frequency matches its natural frequency |
interference | a result of superposing different waves, often of the same wavelength; can be constructive or destructive |
beats | a series of alternate reinforcements and cancellations produced by the interference of two waves of slightly different frequencies, heard as a throbbing effect in sound waves |
acoustics | the study of sound properties |