16.

5 | Rate of Energy Transfer by Sinusoidal Waves on Strings 477

Incident Incident
pulse pulse

a a

The reflected pulse is The reflected pulse is not

inverted and a non-inverted inverted and a transmitted pulse
transmitted pulse moves on moves on the lighter string.
the heavier string.

b b

ACTIVE FIGURE 16.15 ACTIVE FIGURE 16.16

(a) A pulse traveling to the right on a light string (a) A pulse traveling to the right on a heavy string
approaches the junction with a heavier string. (b) The approaches the junction with a lighter string. (b) The
situation after the pulse reaches the junction. situation after the pulse reaches the junction.

pulse contains only part of the energy of the incident pulse, its amplitude must be
smaller.
When a pulse traveling on a heavy string strikes the boundary between the heavy
string and a lighter one as in Active Figure 16.16, again part is reflected and part is
transmitted. In this case, the reflected pulse is not inverted.
In either case, the relative heights of the reflected and transmitted pulses depend
on the relative densities of the two strings. If the strings are identical, there is no
discontinuity at the boundary and no reflection takes place.
According to Equation 16.18, the speed of a wave on a string increases as the
mass per unit length of the string decreases. In other words, a wave travels more
slowly on a heavy string than on a light string if both are under the same tension.
The following general rules apply to reflected waves: When a wave or pulse travels
from medium A to medium B and vA . v B (that is, when B is denser than A), it is
inverted upon reflection. When a wave or pulse travels from medium A to medium
B and vA , v B (that is, when A is denser than B), it is not inverted upon reflection.

16.5 Rate of Energy Transfer

by Sinusoidal Waves on Strings m

Waves transport energy through a medium as they propagate. For example, suppose a
an object is hanging on a stretched string and a pulse is sent down the string as in
Figure 16.17a. When the pulse meets the suspended object, the object is momen- The pulse lifts the block,
tarily displaced upward as in Figure 16.17b. In the process, energy is transferred to increasing the gravitational
the object and appears as an increase in the gravitational potential energy of the potential energy of the
object–Earth system. This section examines the rate at which energy is transported block-Earth system.
along a string. We shall assume a one-dimensional sinusoidal wave in the calcula-
tion of the energy transferred.
Consider a sinusoidal wave traveling on a string (Fig. 16.18 on page 478). The
source of the energy is some external agent at the left end of the string. We can m
consider the string to be a nonisolated system. As the external agent performs work
on the end of the string, moving it up and down, energy enters the system of the b
string and propagates along its length. Let’s focus our attention on an infinitesimal
element of the string of length dx and mass dm. Each such element moves vertically Figure 16.17 (a) A pulse travels to
the right on a stretched string, car-
with simple harmonic motion. Therefore, we can model each element of the string rying energy with it. (b) The energy
as a simple harmonic oscillator, with the oscillation in the y direction. All elements of the pulse arrives at the hanging
have the same angular frequency v and the same amplitude A. The kinetic energy block.
478 CHAPTER 16 | Wave Motion

K associated with a moving particle is K 5 12mv 2. If we apply this equation to the

Each element of the string is a
simple harmonic oscillator and infinitesimal element, the kinetic energy dK associated with the up and down
therefore has kinetic energy and motion of this element is
potential energy associated with it.
dK 5 12 1 dm 2 v y2
where vy is the transverse speed of the element. If m is the mass per unit length of
dm the string, the mass dm of the element of length dx is equal to m dx. Hence, we can
express the kinetic energy of an element of the string as

Figure 16.18 A sinusoidal wave dK 5 12 1 m dx 2 v y2 (16.19)

traveling along the x axis on a Substituting for the general transverse speed of an element of the medium using
stretched string.
Equation 16.14 gives
dK 5 12m 3 2vA cos 1 kx 2 vt 2 4 2 dx 5 12mv 2A2 cos2 1 kx 2 vt 2 dx
If we take a snapshot of the wave at time t 5 0, the kinetic energy of a given ele-
ment is
dK 5 12mv 2 A2 cos2 kx dx
Integrating this expression over all the string elements in a wavelength of the wave
gives the total kinetic energy K l in one wavelength:
l l
1
K l 5 3 dK 5 3 2 2
2 mv A cos2 kx dx 5 12 mv 2A2 3 cos2 kx dx
0 0

l
1
5 12 mv 2A2 c 12x 1 sin 2kx d 5 12 mv 2A2 3 12l 4 5 14 mv 2A2l
4k 0

In addition to kinetic energy, there is potential energy associated with each ele-
ment of the string due to its displacement from the equilibrium position and the
restoring forces from neighboring elements. A similar analysis to that above for the
total potential energy Ul in one wavelength gives exactly the same result:
Ul 5 14 mv 2A2l
The total energy in one wavelength of the wave is the sum of the potential and
kinetic energies:
E l 5 Ul 1 K l 5 12 mv 2A2l (16.20)
As the wave moves along the string, this amount of energy passes by a given point
on the string during a time interval of one period of the oscillation. Therefore, the
power P, or rate of energy transfer TMW associated with the mechanical wave, is
1 2 2
TMW El 2 mv A l l
P5 5 5 5 12 mv 2A2 a b
Dt T T T

Power of a wave X P 5 12 mv 2A2v (16.21)

Equation 16.21 shows that the rate of energy transfer by a sinusoidal wave on a string
is proportional to (a) the square of the frequency, (b) the square of the amplitude,
and (c) the wave speed. In fact, the rate of energy transfer in any sinusoidal wave
is proportional to the square of the angular frequency and to the square of the
amplitude.

Quick Quiz 16.5 Which of the following, taken by itself, would be most effec-
tive in increasing the rate at which energy is transferred by a wave traveling
along a string? (a) reducing the linear mass density of the string by one half
(b) doubling the wavelength of the wave (c) doubling the tension in the
string (d) doubling the amplitude of the wave
 16.6 | The Linear Wave Equation 479

Ex a m pl e 16.5 Power Supplied to a Vibrating String

A taut string for which m 5 5.00 3 1022 kg/m is under a tension of 80.0 N. How much power must be supplied to the
string to generate sinusoidal waves at a frequency of 60.0 Hz and an amplitude of 6.00 cm?

SOLUTION
Conceptualize Consider Active Figure 16.10 again and notice that the vibrating blade supplies energy to the string at a
certain rate. This energy then propagates to the right along the string.
Categorize We evaluate quantities from equations developed in the chapter, so we categorize this example as a substitu-
tion problem.
Use Equation 16.21 to evaluate the power: P 5 12 mv 2A2v

T
Use Equations 16.9 and 16.18 to substitute P 5 12m 1 2pf 2 2A2 a b 5 2p 2f 2A2 "mT
Åm
for v and v:

Substitute numerical values: P 5 2p 2 1 60.0 Hz 2 2 1 0.060 0 m 2 2 " 1 0.050 0 kg/m 2 1 80.0 N 2 5 512 W

WHAT IF? What if the string is to transfer energy at a rate of 1 000 W? What must be the required amplitude if all other
parameters remain the same?
Answer Let us set up a ratio of the new and old power, reflecting only a change in the amplitude:
1 2 2
Pnew 2 mv Anew v A2new
5 1 2 2 5 2
Pold 2 mv Aold v Aold
Solving for the new amplitude gives
Pnew 1 000 W
Anew 5 Aold 5 1 6.00 cm 2 5 8.39 cm
Å Pold Å 512 W

16.6 The Linear Wave Equation

In Section 16.1, we introduced the concept of the wave function to represent waves
traveling on a string. All wave functions y(x, t) represent solutions of an equation
called the linear wave equation. This equation gives a complete description of the
wave motion, and from it one can derive an expression for the wave speed. Further-
more, the linear wave equation is basic to many forms of wave motion. In this sec-
tion, we derive this equation as applied to waves on strings.
Suppose a traveling wave is propagating along a string that is under a tension T.
Let’s consider one small string element of length Dx (Fig. 16.19). The ends of the
element make small angles uA and uB with the x axis. The net force acting on the ele-
ment in the vertical direction is

o Fy 5 T sin uB 2 T sin uA 5 T(sin uB 2 sin uA)

Because the angles are small, we can use the approximation sin u < tan u to express S
T
the net force as
uB
x B
o Fy < T(tan uB 2 tan uA) (16.22)

Imagine undergoing an infinitesimal displacement outward from the rightSend of uA A

the rope element in Figure 16.19 along the blue line representing the force T. This S
T
displacement has infinitesimal x and y components and can be represented by the
vector dx i^ 1 dy j^ . The tangent of the angle with respect to the x axis for this dis- Figure 16.19 An element of a string
placement is dy/dx. Because we evaluate this tangent at a particular instant of time, under tension T.