What is the period and frequency of a wave? - GCSE or A-Level students may ask this

A wave could be transverse or longitudinal. We like to think in terms of whole waves. This is when a particle comes back to it's original position and direction of movement. For transverse waves, we can see it as a sine wave passing by (drawing difference between the wave passing and particle's motion). For longitudinal you may have to use your imagination a bit more... (hand motion and drawing) a particle goes up to an amplitude, down to a low amplitude and back to it's original position. That's a whole wave.Period:We can think of the period as the time taken for a single whole wave to pass any point. The time taken for all that, is the period, measured in...(asking the student to fill in the gap before me) secondsParticle goes up down up, 1 waveTime taken, secondsFrequency:Frequency is just how many times a wave passes in a second. measured in Hz or 1/show many times does particle go up down up? = How many waves occur?1 second

SP
Answered by Saabir P. Physics tutor

1881 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Calculate the root mean squared speed for 16g of oxygen gas at 50(deg Celsius) and explain why we use this instead of the average velocity of all the particles.


Why is the refractive index of water bigger than that of air?


Show that a mass on a spring obeys simple harmonic motion.


Explain the photo-electric effect and how the particle theory of light explains the phenomena. State the equation used to the determine the kinetic energy of a photo-electron and explain the origin of the terms used in your equation.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning