PRESENTATION ON WAVE BEHAVIOR

 Marquez Heron
 Dondre Savery
WHAT IS A WAVE?

 A WAVE IS A DISTURBANCE THAT CARRIES ENERGY FROM ONE PLACE TO

ANOTHER AND HAS THE ABILITY TO MOVE MATTER AS IT TRAVELS THROUGH IT
BUT CANNOT CARRY MATTER
 WAVE BEHAVIOR

 All waves behave in certain ways, they can undergo refraction, reflection,
interference, diffraction, absorption, polarization and transmission
REFRACTION: WHEN WAVES SLOW DOWN
AND CHANGE DIRECTION
 This can be defined as the change in the
direction of a wave as it slows down passing
from one medium to another. Along with the
change of direction, refraction also causes a
change in the wavelength and the speed of the
wave. The amount of change in the wave due to
refraction is dependent on the refractive index
of the mediums.
 Refractive Index (Index of Refraction) is a value
calculated from the ratio of the speed of light
in a vacuum to that in a second medium of
greater density

REFLECTION:WHEN
WAVES
BOUNCEBACK

 Occurs when a wave encounters

a new medium that acts as a
barrier, causing the wave to
return to the original medium.
The wave "reflects" off the
barrier at an angle that is
incident to the angle of the
wave hitting the barrier. Very
smooth surfaces such as mirrors
reflect almost all incident light.
 The color of an object is
actually the wavelengths of the
light reflected while all other
wavelengths are absorbed.
INTERFERENCE: WHEN WAVES AFFECT
EACH OTHER
 When one wave comes into
contact with another wave this is
called interference. When the
waves meet the resulting wave
will have the amplitude of the sum
of the two interfering waves.
 Depending on the phase of the
waves the interference can be
constructive or destructive. If the
resulting wave has a higher
amplitude than the interfering
waves, this is constructive
interference.
 If it has a lower amplitude, this is
called destructive interference.
DIFFRACTION: WHEN WAVES BEND

 This occurs when a wave stays in the same

medium, but bends around an obstacle. This
can occur when the wave encounters a small
object in its path or when the wave is forced
through a small opening.
 This phenomenon was discovered
by Christiaan Huygens a Dutch scientist who
developed a useful technique for
determining how and where waves
propagate and is represented by
the formula:

 s=vt where s is the distance, v is the

propagation speed, and t is time
ABSORPTION: WHEN WAVES LOSE ENERGY
 Absorption occurs when a wave comes into contact with a medium and causes
the medium's molecules to vibrate and move. This vibration absorbs or takes
some of the energy away from the wave and less of the energy is reflected
thus transferring the energy from the wave to the medium's molecule
TRANSMISSION: HOW WAVES TRAVEL
 Transmission of waves occur when waves pass through a given point or
medium. This is present commonly in both sound and light waves when they
are transmitted through solids, liquids and gases as well as transparent
materials respectively. Transmission is closely related to reflection, refraction
and absorption of waves in the sense that:
 The type of wave, its properties such as wavelength, and the difference
between the two interference (boundary) will determine what happens to
most of the wave energy.
 SCATTERING
 Scattering occurs when waves particularly light pass through an imperfect
medium in various directions. The amount of scattering that takes place
depends on the wavelength of the light and the size and structure of the
object.