WAVE S——I 16

One of the primary subjects of physics is waves. To see how important

waves are in the modern world, just consider the music industry. Every piece of
music you hear, from some retro-punk band playing in a campus dive to the most
eloquent concerto playing on the Web, depends on performers producing waves
and your detecting those waves. In between production and detection, the information
carried by the waves might need to be transmitted (as in a live performance
on the Web) or recorded and then reproduced (as with CDs,DVDs, or the
other devices currently being developed in engineering labs worldwide). The
financial importance of controlling music waves is staggering, and the rewards to
engineers who develop new control techniques can be rich.
This chapter focuses on waves traveling along a stretched string, such as on
a guitar. The next chapter focuses on sound waves, such as those produced by
a guitar string being played. Before we do all this, though, our first job is to classify
the countless waves of the everyday world into basic types.

A mechanical wave is a wave that is an oscillation of matter, and therefore transfers energy

through a medium.[1] While waves can move over long distances, the movement of the medium
of transmission—the material—is limited. Therefore, the oscillating material does not move far
from its initial equilibrium position. Mechanical waves transport energy. This energy propagates
in the same direction as the wave. Any kind of wave (mechanical or electromagnetic) has a
certain energy. Mechanical waves can be produced only in media which possess elasticity and
inertia.
A mechanical wave requires an initial energy input. Once this initial energy is added, the wave
travels through the medium until all its energy is transferred. In contrast, electromagnetic
waves require no medium, but can still travel through one.
One important property of mechanical waves is that their amplitudes are measured in an
unusual way, displacement divided by (reduced) wavelength. When this gets comparable to
unity, significant nonlinear effects such as harmonic generation may occur, and, if large
enough, may result in chaotic effects. For example, waves on the surface of a body of water
break when this dimensionless amplitude exceeds 1, resulting in a foam on the surface and
turbulent mixing. Some of the most common examples of mechanical waves are water waves,
sound waves, and seismic waves.