CSEC PHYSICS

Definitions, Formulae & Equations

SECTION C: WAVES AND OPTICS

Pulse: A pulse is a single disturbance that propagates from point to another.

Waves: A wave is a continuous stream of regular disturbances.

Progressive wave: Progressive waves are those that transfer energy from one point to the next.

Transverse wave: A transverse wave is one that has vibrations perpendicular to its direction of
propagation.

Longitudinal wave A longitudinal wave is one that has vibrations parallel to its direction of
propagation

Amplitude: The amplitude of a wave is the maximum displacement of the vibration or oscillation
from its mean position.

Wavelength: The wavelength is the distance between two successive waves in phase.

Phase: Points in a progressive are in phase if the distance between then along the direction of
propagation is equal to a whole number of wavelengths.

Period: The period is the time for one complete vibration of oscillation.

Frequency: The frequency is the number of vibrations or oscillations per second.

Speed The speed of a wave is the rate at which the wavefronts of a wave propagate.

Wavefront: Wavefronts are taken as the line perpendicular to the propagation of a wave on which
all points are in phase.
 The speed, frequency and period of a wave
speed v [ m s −1 ]
𝛌
v = f = frequency f [ Hz ] or [s −1 ]
𝑻

𝟏 Period T [ s]
f =
𝑻

Sound: Sound is produced by vibrating systems and is transmitted as a longitudinal wave.

Loudness: Loudness is related to the amplitude of sound.

Pitch: Pitch is related to the frequency of sound.

Infrasound: infrasound is the classification of frequency of sound below 20 Hz

Audible range: This is the range of frequency of sound between 20 Hz and 20K Hz.

Ultrasound: Frequency range above 20K Hz.

Uses of ultrasound

• Communication.

• Measurement of distance and estimating speed of sound.

• Testing materials.

• Diagnostic imaging.
• Cleaning.

Electromagnetic waves: Group of frequency transverse waves consisting of of an electric field

and a magnetic field which vibrate perpendicular to each other and to their direction of
propagation.

Properties of electromagnetic waves

• Transverse waves.

• Travel at the speed of light (3 × 10 8 m s −1).

• Propagate through vacuum.

• Consist of varying electric and magnetic fields.

• Reflect, refract, diffract and interfere.

Wavelengths and frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum

• Radio waves (10 8 Hz or ).

• Microwave (10 8 Hz or ).

• Infrared rays (10 8 Hz or ).

• Visible light rays (10 8 Hz or ).

• Ultraviolet (UV) rays (10 8 Hz or ).

• X- rays (10 8 Hz or ).

• Gamma () rays (10 8 Hz or ).

Uses of electromagnetic waves

• Broadcasting and communication → Radio waves

• Communication and warming food → Microwave

• Heater; Night vision equipment; Remote control; Fibre optics communication; Infrared
cameras; Infrared thermometers; Heat-seeking sensors → Infrared rays.

• Human vision; Photography; Remote control; Fibre optics communication →

Visible light.

• Fluorescent lamps; Bank notes; Detergents, chemicals inside them absorb UV rays and convert
the energy to visible light → Ultraviolet (UV) rays.

• Security scanning of passengers and luggage; Medical imaging of dense materials such as
bones or tumours within flesh; X-ray crystallography: a method of investigating the structure
of crystals, etc. → X- rays.

• Cancer therapy; Imaging using a gamma camera; Tracers; Sterilisation → Gamma ()
rays.

Light waves: Two theories of light are light wave theory (Huygens) and corpuscular (particle) theory
(Newton).

light Theories
Huygens: Huygens supported the wave nature of light based on the evidence that light can
undergo reflection, refraction, diffraction and interference.

Newton: Newton supported the particle theory of light based on the evidence that light travels in
straight lines and can travel through a vacuum. It is also supported by the phenomena
of photo electric effect.

Reflection: Reflection is the throwing back by a body or surface of light without absorbing it, is
known as reflection of light.

Laws of reflection

• The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

• The incident ray, the normal at the point of incidence and the reflected ray, all lie in the
same plane.
Reflection in a plane

Characteristics of the image formed in a plane mirror

• Same size as object

• Same distance perpendicularly behind the mirror as the object is in front

• Virtual

• Laterally inverted

In a virtual image, the rays appear to diverge from behind the mirror, so the image appears to
come from behind the mirror.

Laterally inverted means reversed side to side, so that the image of a word placed to face a
mirror is reversed.
Refraction: When light is travelling obliquely from one medium to another, then the direction of
propagation of light changes in the second medium, the phenomenon is known as
refraction of light.

For a given frequency of light, the wavelength is proportional to the wave speed:

wave speed = frequency × wavelength ( v = f ×  )

The relative refractive index of the second medium

with respect to the first medium angle of incidence i [ degrees ]

 1 sin i =  2 sin r angle of refraction r [ degrees ]

𝜼𝟐 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒊 Refractive index  [ no unit ]

= = 
𝜼𝟏 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒓

For light travelling from one medium to another, the ratio:

𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝜼𝟐

= = 
𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝜼𝟏

Laws of refraction

• The incident ray, the normal at the point of incidence and the refracted ray, all lie in the
same plane.
 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒊
• The ratio is a constant, for the light of a given color and for the given pair of media.
𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒓
This law is also known as Snell’s law of refraction.
Critical angle: The critical angle is the angle of incidence that produces an angle of refraction of 90°
for light travelling from one medium to an optically less dense medium

Total internal reflection: Total internal reflection occurs when incident angle is greater than the
critical angle.

Applications of total internal reflection:

• Telecommunications.

• Endoscopic diagnostic imaging.

• Endoscopic therapy.
Reflecting prisms

Diffraction: Diffraction is the spreading of waves as they pass through obstacles. The smaller the
wavelength of the wave relative to the gap, the lesser is the diffraction.

Question: Why the diffraction of light is not normally observed?

Answer: Because the wavelength of the light waves might be considerably smaller than the gap
in the obstacle?

Interference: When two waves meet and pass through each other, the waves superimpose. The two
displacements caused by the separate waves are simply added together. This
phenomenon is known as interference
Lenses: A lens is a shaped piece of transparent glass or plastic that refracts light.

• Convex or converging lens is thicker at the optical centre and converges parallel rays of to
produce a real image.

• Concave or diverging lens is thinner at the optical centre and diverges parallel rays of to
produce a real virtual.

• Optical centre is the point at the centre through which all rays pass without deviation.
• Principal axis is the line that passes through the centre and is perpendicular the face of the
lens.

• Principal focus is also called the focal point. It is to this point that all of the rays converge (for
a convex lens) or from which they all diverge (for a concave lens)

• Focal length is the distance between the optical centre and the principal focus

• Focal plane is an imaginary plane located at the principal focus and perpendicular to the
principal axis.

• Magnification is the ratio of the size of the image to the size of the object.

The ratio of the size of the image to the size of the object

𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰 magnification m [ no unit ]

magnification = =
𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑶
image height I [ cm ]
𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒗
magnification = =
𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝒖 object height O [ cm ]

The lens formula image distance v [ cm ]

𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 object distance v [ cm ]
= +
𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
focal length f [ cm ]
𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
= +
𝑓 𝒖 𝑣