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    Light Is A Wave: Amplitude: This Is The Size of The Displacement For The

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    Leo Cereno
    Light is a wave that has four key properties: amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and wave speed. The disturbance of a wave moves outward from the source, while the medium itself (such as water or a string) moves up and down. For light waves, the speed is equal to the wavelength multiplied by the frequency. As a wave, light can expand radially, interfere with other waves, bend around corners, carry energy and momentum, and interact with matter.

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    Light Is A Wave: Amplitude: This Is The Size of The Displacement For The

    Uploaded by

    Leo Cereno
    15 views2 pages
    Light is a wave that has four key properties: amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and wave speed. The disturbance of a wave moves outward from the source, while the medium itself (such as water or a string) moves up and down. For light waves, the speed is equal to the wavelength multiplied by the frequency. As a wave, light can expand radially, interfere with other waves, bend around corners, carry energy and momentum, and interact with matter.

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    Light Is a Wave

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    Light is a wave that has four key properties: amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and wave speed. The disturbance of a wave moves outward from the source, while the medium itself (such as water or a string) moves up and down. For light waves, the speed is equal to the wavelength multiplied by the frequency. As a wave, light can expand radially, interfere with other waves, bend around corners, carry energy and momentum, and interact with matter.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    15 views2 pages

    Light Is A Wave: Amplitude: This Is The Size of The Displacement For The

    Uploaded by

    Leo Cereno
    Light is a wave that has four key properties: amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and wave speed. The disturbance of a wave moves outward from the source, while the medium itself (such as water or a string) moves up and down. For light waves, the speed is equal to the wavelength multiplied by the frequency. As a wave, light can expand radially, interfere with other waves, bend around corners, carry energy and momentum, and interact with matter.

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    Light Is a Wave

    What is a wave? Let's start with an example. Toss a rock into a


    puddle and you will see something like this:

    SLOW MOTION VIDEO OF WAVES IN A PUDDLE.

    The rock makes a disturbance in the water (a ripple). This


    disturbance moves radially outward from where the rock hit. It is the
    disturbance moving outward, not the water molecules - they just
    move up and down. You can do something similar with a length of
    string. Place it on the floor and continue to shake one end. The
    disturbance travels down the string (a heavy string works better).
    Let's look at the case of a wave traveling down a string. There are 4
    properties that you could consider:

    These 4 properties are:


     Amplitude: this is the size of the displacement for the
    disturbance. The units for amplitude depend on the type of
    wave. For a string, the units would be meters.
     Wave speed: if you were to watch one displacement, it would
    be moving. The wave speed is the speed (that seems
    redundant). The unit for wave speed is meters per second.
     Wavelength: this is the distance from one disturbance to the
    next measured in meters
     Frequency: if you were to count how many waves passed a
    stationary point in each second, that would be the frequency
    (in cycles per second or Hertz).
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    The last three properties are related. The speed of the wave is equal
    to the product of the wavelength and the frequency.
    So, light is a wave. This means that it has all the above properties
    and can do wavey things such as:
     Expand and radiate in all directions (like a lightbulb or the
    waves in the water caused by a rock).
     Interfere with other waves.
     Bend around corners (yes, light does this - but it's difficult to
    see).
     Carry energy and momentum.
     Interact with matter.
    Light does all these things.

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