wave speed - wave spped (m/s) = frequency (Hz) x wavelength (m)

amplitude - distance from the rest (mid) position of a wave to the peak/crest of the wave

period - number of seconds it takes for a full cycle (period = 1/frequency)

attach a signal generator to a speaker to generate waves of specific frequencies. use 2 microphones and an olliscope to find the wavelength of the sound waves generated

to measure frequency, use a cork and a stopwatch, watch how many times the cork bounces 'up and down'

to measure wavelength, use a strobe light and use squared paper to measure the distances that (e.g 5 waves) cover

waves are absorbed, transmitted and reflected at boundaries

when waves bend (the greater the change in speed, the more the wave bends), when travelling though matter, because waves travel at different speeds in materials with different densities

the frequency of a wave stays the same when crossing a boundary, but the wavelength changes (decreases if waves slows increases if it speeds up)

if the wave slows down, it will bend towards the normal, but if it speeds up then it will bend away from the normal

reflection can be specular or scattered depending on the roughness of the surface - makes an image clear or matt

1. draw a normal and a light ray that meet the normal (incident ray)

2. draw the reflected ray, remembering that the reflected ray is always equal to the angle of incidence

3. if there are multiple rays which are parallel, and they're reflecting off a smooth surface, then the reflected rays will also be parallel to eachother

2. if the ray is slowing down (more dense material) it will bend towards the normal (and vice versa)

3. if the ray is passing through a rectangular block, the emerging ray and the incident ray will be parallel

triangular prisms disperse white light, as all the different wavelength travel at different speeds in the glass, refracting them at different amounts

sound waves are caused by vibrating objects, passed through mediums by compressions and rarefractions

sound travels through a solid by causing the vibrations of the particles in that solid (sound travels fastest in a solid, then a liquid, then a gas

sound waves can't travel in space because it's mostly a vacuum

sound hits the eardrum and causes it to vibrate, these vibrations are passed onto, the ossicles, and to the cochlea, which is where the vibrations are turned into electrical signals that get sent to the brain

humans hear from around 20Hz to 20,000Hz - this decreases as people get older

partial reflection happens when some of a wave is transmitted and the rest is reflected

if you know the speed of a wave, then you can use the time it takes to reach a detector, and (d = sxt) to find how far away the boundary is

can be used in the body as ultrasound waves can pass through and partially reflect at different boundaries (e.g between tissues) - if you know the speed of the ultrasound, you can work out the distance between each boundary, making it useful in medical imaging

used by boats and submarines to find the distance to the seabed, to find objects in deep water