Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v4 - SHS 2
WAVES
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WAVES
Download the Lessonotes Mobile Ghana app for faster lesson access on Android and iPhone.
Subject: Physics
Class: SHS 2
Term: 1st Term
Week: 19
Grade code: 2.2.2.LI.4
Strand code: 2
Sub-strand code: 2
Content standard code: 2.2.2.CS.1
Indicator code: 2.2.2.LI.4
Theme: ENERGY
Subtheme: WAVES
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This lesson introduces the mathematical description of a travelling (or progressive) wave. Waves are fundamental to our understanding of the world. In Ghana, we experience waves every day: the sea waves at Labadi beach, the sound waves from a drum in a cultural troupe, the radio waves that bring us news from Peace FM or Joy FM, and the light waves from the sun that allow our cocoa to grow. By learning the wave equation, we can create a powerful mathematical model to predict and understand the behaviour of all these different types of waves.
Introduction to the Progressive Wave Equation
A progressive wave (or travelling wave) is a disturbance that transfers energy from one point to another without the net movement of the medium itself. Think of a slinky spring: when you create a pulse, the wave travels along the spring, but each individual coil just moves up and down or back and forth.
To describe this wave mathematically, we need an equation that tells us the displacement (`y`) of any particle in the medium at any position (`x`) and at any time (`t`).
The general form of the sinusoidal progressive wave equation is: