Unit 11, Wave Pulses and Traveling Waves

This unit introduces waves as the result of coupled oscillations in a medium. A disturbance in a medium transfers energy.  If the disturbance is opposed by a restoring force, the medium can be modeled as composed of many simple harmonic oscillators coupled together.  This (coupled simple harmonic oscillators) is our simple model of a  wave.   

Wave characteristics, such as amplitude, length, and speed are examined. Topics include wave pulses, traveling waves, transverse waves, longitudinal waves, superposition, reflection from boundaries, Huygens' principle, and energy.