A wave is a disturbance that propagates. Apart from electromagnetic radiation, and probably gravitational radiation, which can travel through vacuum, waves exist in a medium (which on deformation is capable of producing elastic restoring forces) through which they travel and can transfer energy from one place to another without any of the particles of the medium being displaced permanently; i.e. there is no associated mass transport. Instead, any particular point oscillates around a fixed position.1 Media
A medium that can carry a wave is classified as one of the following:
- A linear medium if different waves at any particular point in the medium can be added,
- A bounded medium if it is finite in extent, otherwise unbounded.
- A uniform medium if its physical properties are unchanged at different points,
- A isotropic medium if its physical properties are same in different directions.
2 Examples of waves
- Ocean surface waves, which are perturbations that propagate through water (see also surfing and tsunami).
- Sound - a mechanical wave that propagates through air, liquid or solids, and is of a frequency detected by the auditory system. Similar are seismic waves in earthquakes, of which there are the S, P and L kinds.
- Visible light, radio waves, x-rays, etc. make up electromagnetic radiation. In this case propagation is possible without a medium, through vacuum.
- Gravitational waves, which are fluctuations in the gravitational field predicted by General relativityGeneral relativity (GR or general relativity theory (GRT is the theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. The conceptual core of general relativity, from which its other consequences largely follow, is the Principle of Equivalence which. These waves are nonlinear.
3 Characteristic properties
All waves have common behaviour under a number of standard situations. All waves can experience the following:
- ReflectionThe term reflection (also spelt reflexion can refer to several different concepts: In mathematics, reflection is the transformation of a space. In physics, reflection is a wave phenomenon. In computer science, reflection is a programming language feature - when a wave turns back from the direction it was travelling, due to hitting a reflective material.
- RefractionThis article refers to refraction in waves. For refraction in metals, see refraction (metallurgy . Ripple tank Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in velocity. It happens when waves travel from a medium with a given refractive - the change of direction of waves due to them entering a new medium.
- DiffractionIn physics, diffraction is a wave phenomenon: the apparent bending and spreading of waves when they meet an obstruction. Diffraction occurs with electromagnetic waves, such as light and radio waves, and also in sound waves and water waves. Diffraction als - the spreading out of waves, for example when they travel through a small slit.
- InterferenceIn communications, interference is anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message; as it travels along a channel, between a source and a receiver. Below is an article about the physical phenomenon of wave interference. See also the legal concept o - the addition of two waves that come in to contact with each other.
- DispersionIn optics, dispersion is a phenomenon that causes the separation of a wave into spectral components with different frequencies, due to a dependence of the wave's speed on its frequency. It is most often described in light waves, though it may happen to an - the splitting up of a wave up depending on frequency.
