Wave Properties

Properties of Waves:

A wave is characterized by different properties of it. These properties are amplitude, frequency, wavelength, velocity and period. To get more clarity on these elements, let us understand each of them one by one. Amplitude The amplitude of a wave is measured in meters. It denotes the energy contained in the wave. The wave that has more amplitude is more powerful and energetic. The amplitude of a wave is the maximum displacement or the total distance traveled by a wave in the medium. Wavelength Wavelength is calculated as the distance between two successive troughs or crests of the wave. It is measured in meters. Wavelength of a wave is denoted by lambda and it is equal to the velocity of a wave (in meters/sec) divided by the wave frequency (in Hertz). Time Period Time Period is the total time that a wave takes to complete a single cycle. It is measured in seconds. It is represented by the alphabet ‘T’. The inverse of the time period is the frequency of a wave. Velocity

The velocity of any wave is the speed at which a wave travels in one medium. It is measured in meters/seconds. Velocity is calculated as the product of wave frequency and the wavelength, or division of wavelength and the period. Wave Speed Formula Let us now understand the Wave Speed Formula. Wave speed is viewed as the distance that any wave travels at a specified amount of time. It implies the number of meters that a wave travels in every second. Wave speed is also related to wave frequency and wavelength. It can be understood by the following equation:

c=νλ———equation-2

Where c: speed of light,

Speed = Frequency x Wavelength

Frequency=no. of wave cycles/sec (in Hz) ——————equation-3