US History

Transverse waves

When young made his discovery, explaining double refraction was still a problem for the wave theory. Young eventually realized that a transverse wave one that vibrates at right angles to the direction it travels could explain double refraction.Despite this evidence for the wave theory, many scientists remained unconvinced. It was known by this time that light was absorbed in chemical reactions at a single spot, which suggested that light was a particle. Moreover, despite his discoveries, Young could not give a complete account of how interference worked.However Agustin Fresnel did develop a mathematical theory of inference.This theory suggested that in the middle of a circular shadow there should be a bright spot of light. Although it was thought ridiculous, this idea was tested—and proved correct.This dramatic test convinced almost everyone that light was a wave. All waves can create interference patterns. When similar waves from different places overlap, they can either reinforce each other to create a bigger wave or cancel each other out to produce no wave at all.Thomas Young discovered interference patterns in 1803. Transverse waves are waves that are oscillating perpendicularly to the direction of propagation. If your anchor one end of a ribbon or string and hold the other end in your hand, you can create transverse waves by moving your hand up and down.Notice though, that you can also launch waves by moving your hand side to side. This is an important point.There are two independent directions in which wave motion can occur. In this case, these are the y and z directions mentioned above. There are also anti nodes, also known as crests as crests and thoughts, which are found in all waves.