Waves
Prerequisites
- an understanding of harmonic oscillations;
- the concept of period, frequency, angular frequency and phase.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to
- understand the dual periodicity of wave phenomena through the wave function;
- characterise wave processes such as reflexion, refraction, diffraction and polarisation;
- grasp the concept of interference and predict its outcome depending on phase difference or path difference;
- describe the boundary conditions that determine the properties of standing waves, which also helps them comprehend laser oscillator modes;
- apply the Doppler effect to determine the speed of moving wave sources (as in Doppler ultrasonography);
- express sound intensities on a decibel scale and grasp the magnitude of intensity differences expressed on a logarithmic scale.
