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Summary Notes - Topic 4 Edexcel Physics GCSE

This document provides notes on waves for Edexcel GCSE Physics. It defines key wave terms like wavelength, amplitude, frequency, and period. It describes the relationships between these terms and how velocity is calculated. It distinguishes between transverse and longitudinal waves, gives examples of each type, and explains methods to measure wave velocity. It also covers topics like reflection, refraction, absorption, and the effects of different wavelengths. Application areas like ultrasound, infrasound, and how sound waves are processed in the ear are summarized as well.

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186 views4 pages

Summary Notes - Topic 4 Edexcel Physics GCSE

This document provides notes on waves for Edexcel GCSE Physics. It defines key wave terms like wavelength, amplitude, frequency, and period. It describes the relationships between these terms and how velocity is calculated. It distinguishes between transverse and longitudinal waves, gives examples of each type, and explains methods to measure wave velocity. It also covers topics like reflection, refraction, absorption, and the effects of different wavelengths. Application areas like ultrasound, infrasound, and how sound waves are processed in the ear are summarized as well.

Uploaded by

trical27 trical
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Edexcel GCSE Physics

Topic 4: Waves
Notes
(Content in bold is for Higher Tier only)

www.pmt.education
Waves and Energy
- Waves transfer energy without transferring matter
- This is shown in the sea, where buoys stay still despite waves passing by them – the waves
move, but not the particles

Wavelength – distance between the same points on two consecutive waves,


Amplitude – distance from equilibrium line to the maximum displacement (crest or trough)
Frequency – the number of waves that pass a single point per second
Period – the time taken for a whole wave to completely pass a single point
Wavefront – the plane in which the wave travels (i.e. the direction of the wave)

velocity = frequency × wavelength = v = fλ

Wave speed (metre/second, m/s) = frequency (hertz, Hz) ×


wavelength (metre, m)

Relationships
- Increase frequency, velocity increases
- Wavelength increases, velocity increases
en.wikibooks.org
- Period is inversely proportional to frequency
- Smaller period, higher frequency, greater velocity

Types of Waves
- Transverse waves
o Light, or any electromagnetic wave, seismic S waves, water waves
o Has peaks and troughs
o Vibrations are at right angles to the direction of travel
- Longitudinal waves
o Sound waves, seismic P waves
o Has compressions and rarefactions
o Vibrations are in the same direction as the direction of travel

Measuring velocity
- Sound in air
o Make a noise at ~50m from a solid wall, and record time for the echo to be heard,
then use speed = distance/time
o Have two microphones connected to a datalogger at a large distance apart, and
record the time difference between a sound passing from one to the other – then
use speed = distance/time
- Ripples on water surface
o Use a stroboscope, which has the same frequency as the water waves, then measure
distance between the ‘fixed’ ripples and use 𝑣 = 𝑓𝜆
o Move a pencil along the paper at the same speed as a wavefront, and measure the
time taken to draw this line and the length of the line – then use speed =
distance/time

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Refraction
- Waves pass from one medium to another
- If passing into a more optically denser medium (from air to glass)
o The wave will be refracted at the boundary and will change direction to bend
towards the normal
o Speed decreases
o Wavelength decreases
o Energy of a wave is constant, and energy is directly linked to frequency of a wave.
So if frequency is constant and speed decreases, wavelength must also decrease
- The light bends closer to the normal

Reflection
- Waves will reflect off a flat surface
(Physics Only)
- The smoother the surface, the stronger the reflected wave is
- Rough surfaces scatter the light in all directions, so appear matt and not reflective
- The angle of incidence = angle of reflection
- Light will reflect if the object is opaque and is not absorbed by the material
o The electrons will absorb the light energy, then reemit it as a reflected wave

Transmission (Physics Only)


- Waves will pass through a transparent material
- The more transparent, the more light will pass through the material
- It can still refract, but the process of passing through the material and still emerging is
transmission

Absorption (Physics Only)


- If the frequency of light matches the energy levels of the electrons
- The light will be absorbed by the electrons and not reemitted
- They will be absorbed, and then reemitted over time as heat
- So that particular frequency has been absorbed
- If a material appears green, only green light has been reflected, and the rest of the
frequencies in visible light have been absorbed

Effect of Wavelength
- Different substances may absorb, transmit, refract or reflect waves depending on their
wavelength
o Glass transmits/refracts visible light
o Reflects UV

The Ear (Physics only)


- Outer ear collects the sound and channels it down the ear canal
- As it travels down, it still is a pressure air wave
- The sound waves hit the eardrum
o Tightly stretched membrane which vibrates as the incoming pressure waves reach
it
o The eardrum vibrates at the same frequency as the sound wave
o The small bones connected to this also vibrate at the same frequency (stirrup
bone)
- Vibrations of the bones transmitted to the fluid in the inner ear (the cochlea)
- Compression waves are thus transferred to the fluid

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o The small bones act as an amplifier of the sound waves the eardrum receives
o As the fluid moves due to the compression waves, the small hairs that line the
cochlea move too
o Each hair is sensitive to different sound frequencies, so some move more than
others for certain frequencies
▪ The hairs each come from a nerve cell
o When a certain frequency is received, the hair attuned to that specific frequency
moves a lot, releasing an electrical impulse to the brain, which interprets this to a
sound
- The higher the frequency, the more energy the wave has – which would damage cells in
the ear more quickly, and would not be able to work effectively long-term
o This, and the fact that we have evolved not needing to hear very high or low
frequencies, means the ear only works for a limited frequency range
Ultrasound (Physics only)
- This is a sound wave with a higher frequency than 20 000Hz
- Uses:
o Sonar
▪ Pulse of ultrasound is sent below a ship, and the time taken for it to reflect
and reach the ship can be used to calculate the depth
▪ This is used to work out whether there is a shoal of fish below the ship
▪ Or how far the seabed is below the ship
o Foetal Scanning
▪ Non-invasive and not harmful
▪ Used to create an image of the foetus, allowing measurements to be made
to check the foetus is developing normally
▪ This works because ultrasound waves partially reflect at each surface
boundary, this can be used to work out the distances and therefore an
image of the foetus
Infrasound (Physics Only)
- Infrasound is the opposite of ultrasound – it is a sound wave with a frequency lower than
20Hz – also known as seismic waves. There are two: P and S waves
o This is used to explore the Earth’s core
o P waves are longitudinal, and can pass through solids and liquids
o S waves are transverse, only passing through solids (these move slower too)
o On the opposite side of the Earth to an earthquake, only P waves are detected,
suggesting the core of the Earth is liquid – hence no S waves can penetrate it

www.pmt.education

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