He wave motion is the propagation of a wave in a medium that does not contain resistance in the trajectory and which is subject to a uniform gravitational field.
Wave motion does not transfer matter by means of electromagnetic or mechanical waves. The waves disturb some kind of property of a medium through density, electromagnetic field, pressure, among others.
This type of movement can also be analyzed as the constitution of two rectilinear movements, one horizontal uniform and one vertical uniform.
A clear example of this type of movement is sound. It spreads through longitudinal elastic waves through a fluid that is generating a vibratory movement.
Wave motion characteristics
A process as fundamental but at the same time as complex as the wave movement, consists of many characteristics that define its nature and explain the reason for its origin. Some of them are:
Power transmission
Wave motion is the path traveled by a wave that carries energy and not matter. This process is done through a material or non-material means.
Means of propagation
The wave movement transmits waves through various media and we can divide them into: material medium and non material medium.
The waves transmitted by a material medium (mechanical waves), are those where there is no net transport of matter in the medium that passes through. An example of this is the wave that goes through a whip .
One end of it is shaken and, even if it does not move, a wave propagates through it. In this type of movement we find sound waves, elastic waves and gravity waves.
The waves transmitted by a non-material medium (non-mechanical waves), do not need a medium, they simply propagate and perform a wave motion in a vacuum. An example of this would be the movement made by electromagnetic waves.
Propagation function
There are longitudinal waves and transverse waves. The longitudinal ones are those where the movement of the wave is parallel to the propagation direction of the same.
On the other hand, in the transverse the movement is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.
Standing waves
This type of waves are those where there is an interference of two waves of equal amplitude, which advance in the opposite direction through a medium.
The diffraction of waves
Wave diffraction is a property where the waves surround an obstacle and turn it into an emitter focus of that wave.
Ripple periodicity
The waves can also be characterized by their periodicity. Periodic waves are those that propagate in repetitive cycles. On the other hand, non-periodic waves are those that originate in isolation and are called pulses.
Properties
The waves are characterized by having various properties that allow to clarify and demonstrate how the phenomenon of wave motion occurs.
Some of these properties include reflection (rebound of the wave as it happens with echoes) and refraction (change of direction when changing material medium), among others.
References
- Categories of waves . Retrieved on December 8, 2017, from The Physics Classroom: physicsclassroom.com
- Motion . Retrieved on December 8, 2017, from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org
- Wave . Retrieved on December 8, 2017, from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org
- Waves Retrieved on December 8, 2017, from Tutor Vista: physics.tutorvista.com
- What is a wave? Retrieved on December 8, 2017, from The Physics Classroom: physicsclassroom.com