1.2 Theory Paragraph 1.

2 - Frequency, amp litude , and wav eform

BIPOLAR AND UNIPOLAR WAVES

A ll of the waveforms that we have seen so far have one th ing in common: they
are bipolar waves , w hich have both posit ive and negative portions w ithin their
wave cycles. (Remember that positive amp litudes, greater than zero, correspond
to compression of t he mo lecules of the tra nsmission medium, w hile negative
amp lit udes correspond to rarefaction )

There are also unipolar waves , wh ich lie completely above or below the value
0 (as seen in fig ure 1.20).

bipola r waveform
o I
-,- -. - 7 - - - - -

0.75 - I
1
-1--1--.-
I I
- -

0.5 ' -1--.----

•1- ' I
1 , I
a. 0.25 I- -I - -◄ --- •-
E O l- '------ -'-- ~-----'--J---'---'-~-----'-'-----'-h- .l..-'--'- ~ -l-...._-'----1
C1J
·0.25 ..,..
·O 5 -- __1-- --' -
I I
l

•0.75 ..,.. .... ..,-, • -- ·r ,- - r- - - 7 - 7 - ,. - - - ;- -1- -1 - - - - - - -

I ' I ! t I I
-1 ·· -·--.J __ J_ .. _ -L .L_, __ ~ __ J_J ___ L_, __ 1__ I_J ___ _

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
time in msec -+

unipolar waveform

0 75
0.5

a. 0.25
E 0
C1J
-0 25
-0.5
-0.75 ·1 T ~ - - - ,· - 7 - ·1 .
I '
·1 L ;_ - - - _a...._,_ .J •. .J ...

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
time in msec -+

Fig. 1.20 Bipolar and un ipola r wavefo rms

The waveforms used to produce sound are generally bipolar, because th ey need
to alternately compress and expand a physical med ium. Instead of generating
audible sound, however, unipolar wavefo rms are often used to mod ify a param-
et er of a sound. We wil l discuss this top ic fu rt her in Chapter 4.

22