State the principle of superposition of waves and illustrate it schematically.

Whenever two or more waves travelling through the same medium at the same time pass through each other, the net displacement of the medium at any point in space-time is simply given by the sum of the individual wave displacements.An easy way to illustrate this schematically would be by sketching both constructive and destructive cases using sine and cosine waves. More complicated waveforms could them be later also considered (square, triangular, etc...).

PV

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Explain why the pressure exerted by a gas increases as they are heated at constant volume, with references to the kinetic theory of gases.


The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of circumference 27km uses magnetic fields to accelerate a proton repeatedly in a circular path. Calculate the flux density of a uniform magnetic field required for the proton to travel at a tenth of the speed of light.


What are the assumptions made when calculating values regarding an Ideal Gas?


3 resistors, R1, R2 and R3 are attached in parallel across a 6V cell with resistances 3, 4 and 5 Ohms respectively. Calculate the current across each resistor.