PHY293 Oscillations Lecture #15

October 16, 2009

1. Fourth problem set due next Monday at 5pm)

2. Midterm grades now available on STORM (Check yours)
3. Looked at a Flash simulation of two traveling waves combining to make a standing wave
• http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph14e/stwaverefl.htm

Begin Lecture material

1. Longitudinal Wave Boundary Conditions
• Last time we showed how the wave equation arises for longitudinal waves in elastic media:

∂2u 2
2∂ u
− cl =0
∂t2 ∂x2
• But this form of the wave equation lends itself more natural to a new type of boundary conditions (at either end of a column
of air or a ringing metal rod)
• The two types of boundary conditions we can have are
◦ Closed Ends: u(x = 0) = u(x = L) = 0
◦ Open Ends: du/dx(x = 0) = du/dx(x = L) = 0
• This latter boundary condition arises because the density of air at the end of an open tube can’t change abruptly. Its pressure
must be in equilibrium with the air outside the tube
• In either case the normal modes of the solution looks like:

un (x, t) = [An cos(kn x) + Bn sin(kn x)] cos(ωn t + αn )

• To impose the ’new kind’ of boundary condition we’ll need the first spatial derivative:
∂un
(x, t) = [−An kn sin(kn x) + Bn kn cos(kn x)] cos(ωn t + αn )
∂x
• Applying the open-end boundary conditions at x = 0 will give:
∂u
(x = 0) = −kn An sin(kn 0) + Bn kn cos(kn 0) = 0 ⇒ Bn = 0 all n
∂x
• We draw this conclusion since sin(0) = 0 so the first term vanishes while cos(0) = 1 so the only way the second term can
vanish is if the Bn are all 0
• Substituting Bn = 0 and looking at the other boundary:
∂u
(x = L) = −kn An sin(kn L) + 0 = 0 ⇒ kn = nπ/L
∂x
• Thus the general solution is a sum over the normal modes:

u(x, t) = Σ∞
n=1 An cos(kn x) cos(ωn t + αn ) with kn = nπ/L and ωn = cnπ/L

• The An and αn still must be determined from the initial conditions but we aren’t given those and hence won’t work through
them in this example
2. Traveling Waves
• So far all the waves we’ve discussed have been stationary – not like ocean waves
• A traveling wave is a disturbance that moves through a continuous medium (like water or a string)
• These waves can transfer energy through the medium without actually displacing the constituents of the medium
 • Show first that a standing wave (our familiar solution to the wave equation) can be made up of two traveling waves
• Consider making a standing wave by driving one side of a string at ω (see the flash demo linked above)
• Before the system reaches equilibrium a traveling wave-front moves down the string, away from the source at speed v
• When the wave-front reaches the other boundary (x = L) it gets reflected back
• Details of the reflected wave depend on whether
◦ The far end of the string is held fixed or
◦ The far end is free to move in response to the arriving wave
• In either case a returning wave, of the same amplitude, is generated
• This returning (or reflected) wave interferes with the original wave producing a standing-wave pattern that has twice the
amplitude of the original driven wave
• When the reflected wave reaches x = 0 it arrives at just the right time to ’match’ the motion of the driver
• The driving force (in particular its frequency, phase and amplitude) is just what is necessary to hold on to the string and keep
the x = 0 end stationary
• Of course this can only happen if the driving frequency: ω = ωn = cnπ/L
• At other frequencies no standing wave pattern appears
• What is the math to describe these waves?

yn (x, t) = An sin(nπx/L) cos(ωn t)

 
= An /2 sin(nπx/L − ωn t) + sin(nπx/L + ωn t)
 
= An /2 sin[nπ/L(x − ct)] + sin[nπ/L(x + ct)]

• The first step can be seen by working backwards using the identity sin(θ ± φ) = sin θcosφ ± cos θ sin φ a couple of times
• The second step arises because of our usual relation ωn = ckn = cnπ/L
• But looking at the final expression we see we have two different sinusoidal traveling wave fronts
◦ The crest of the first sin-wave is at x = 0 at t = 0 but moves to x = ct (in the +x̂ direction) at later times
◦ While the crest of the second sin-wave (also at x = 0 at t = 0) moves to x = −ct (in the −x̂ direction) at later times
• Both waves have wavelength λn = 2π/kn , frequency ωn = ckn and amplitude An /2
• The result of these two waves is a standing wave pattern with amplitude An between x = 0 and x = L

3. Pulses and Other Traveling Wave Solutions

• In the next class we see a pulse on a cable
• As you know from playing with a rope tied to a door-knob (or something similar) you can setup a pulse that will travel down
the rope/cable and (with an ideal system) the pulse will be reflected back (of course with any real system there will be some
non-ideal losses and the pulse amplitude will be attenuated)
• Can describe a finite width pulse like this with a Gaussian function:
−(x−vt)2
f (x, t) = ae 2σ 2

√
• This describes a peak positioned at x = vt of finite width (f falls to e−2 at ± 2σ)
• The question we’ll address in the next lecture is “Does this satisfy the wave equation?”
• It doesn’t look like the sinusoidal solutions we’ve seen up to now but it has an argument that looks a bit like sin[k(x − ct)]