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

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

With the help of a suitably labelled graph, explain what is meant by resonance of a mechanical system.


Show that the orbital period of a satellite is given by T^2=(4pi^2r^3)/(GM) where r is the orbital radius, G is the gravitational constant and M is the mass of the Earth. Then find the orbital radius of a geostationary satellite.


What is the force on a moving charged particle in a magnetic field, and why is no work done by this force when it accelerates the particle?


A railway car of mass m1 travelling at a velocity of v1 collides with a second car of mass m2 travelling at v2 and the two join together. What is their final velocity?