Waves: An Interactive Tutorial DocumentsThis material has 36 associated documents. Select a document title to view a document's information. Supplemental Documents (33)Waves Tutorial ePub PreviewThis ePub document contains a preview of the Waves Tutorial. Use an ePub 3 reader that supports Math ML and JavaScript, such as the iBooks Reader on Apple devices or the Gitden on Android. The complete ePub tutorial is available in Apple iTunes.
Last Modified December 22, 2015
Introduction to Waves TutorialWaves: An Interactive Tutorial is a set of 33 exercises designed to teach the
Last Modified July 28, 2015
Sine WavesThis simulation shows a perfect, smooth wave out on the ocean far enough from shore so that it has not started to break (complications involved in describing real waves will be discussed later in this tutorial).
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Speed of a WaveThere are three different velocities involved with describing a wave, one of which will be introduced in this simulation.
Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Transverse WavesTransverse waves are the kind of wave you usually think of when you think of a wave. The motion of the material constituting the wave is up and down so that as the wave moves forward the material moves perpendicular (or transverse) to the direction the wave moves.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Simple Harmonic MotionThe Simple Harmonic Motion simulation shows the motion a mass on a spring graphs its time dependence.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Simple Harmonic Motion and ResonanceThe Simple Harmonic Motion and Resonance simulation shows a driven damped harmonic oscillator. The user can select under damped, over damped, and critically damped conditions.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Longitudinal WavesThe Longitudinal Waves simulation shows waves where the motion of the material is back and forth in the same direction that the wave moves. Sound waves (in air and in solids) are examples of longitudinal waves.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Water WavesWater Waves, like many real physical waves, are combinations of three kinds of wave motion; transverse, longitudinal and torsional.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 28, 2018
This file has previous versions. Two-Dimensional WavesThe Two-Dimensional Waves simulation shows a plane wave in two dimensions traveling in the x-y plane, in the x direction, viewed from above. In these simulations the amplitude (in the z direction, towards you) is represented in grey-scale.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. Adding Linear Waves (Superposition)Linear waves have the property, called superposition, that their amplitudes add linearly if they arrive at the same point at the same time. This simulation shows the sum of two wave functions u(x,t) = f(x,t) + g(x,t).
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. InterferenceThe Interference simulation shows a top view of a source making waves on the surface of a tank of water (imagine tapping the surface of a pond with the end of a stick at regular intervals). The white circles coming from the spot represents the wave crests with troughs in between. Two sources can be seen at the same time and the separation between them and the wavelength of both can be adjusted
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. Group VelocityThe Group Velocity simulation shows how several waves add together to form a single wave shape (called the envelope) and how we can quantify the speed with two numbers, the group velocity of the combined wave and the phase velocity.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. Other Wave FunctionsThe Other Wave Functions simulation explores how any function of x and t which has these variables in the form x - v t will be a traveling wave with speed v.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. Fourier Analysis and SynthesisFourier analysis is the process of mathematically breaking down a complex wave into a sum of of sines and cosines. Fourier synthesis is the process of building a particular wave shape by adding sines and cosines. Fourier analysis and synthesis can be done for any type of wave, not just the sound waves shown in this simulation.
Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. MirrorsThe Mirrors simulation exploration of specular reflection fro plane, concave, and convex surfaces.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. Collisions with BoundariesThe Collisions with Boundaries simulation shows how the phase of the wave may be different after reflection, depending on the surface from which they reflect.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. Standing WavesThis simulation shows how a standing wave is formed from two identical waves moving in opposite directions. For standing waves on a string the ends are fixed and there are nodes at the ends of the string. This limits the wavelengths that are possible which in turn determines the frequencies
Last Modified May 29, 2018
This file has previous versions. RefractionThis simulation shows how a wave that changes speed as it crosses the boundary of between two materials will also change direction if it crosses the boundary at an angle other than perpendicular.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. LensesThis simulation shows how light rays are bent using the thin lens approximation which assumes the lens thickness is small compared to the curvature of the glass.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. Path Difference and InterferenceThis simulation shows two identical waves that start at different locations. A third graph shows the sum of these two waves.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. ImpedanceThis simulations represents a string as a row of individual masses connected by invisible springs. Waves are reflected in the middle of this string because the mass of the string is different on the left as compared with the right.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. Dispersion of LightThis simulation shows visible light passing through a prism. You can choose the color and see what the index is for that wavelength.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. Dispersion of Fourier ComponentsThis simulation starts with the first four components of the Fourier series for a traveling square wave with no dispersion. Changing the angular frequency of a component causes the initial wave function to distort due to dispersion.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. DiffractionThis simulation shows what happens to a plane-wave light source (below the simulation, not shown) as it passes through an opening. The wavelength of the waves and the size of the opening can be adjusted.
Last Modified May 30, 2018
This file has previous versions. Doppler EffectThis simulation models at the Doppler effect for sound; the black circle is the source and the red circle is the receiver. If either the source or the receiver of a wave are in motion the apparent wavelength and frequency of the received wave change. This is apparent shift in frequency of a moving source or observer is called the Doppler Effect. The speed of the wave is not affected by the motion of the source or receiver and neither is the amplitude.
Last Modified June 5, 2018
This file has previous versions. AntennaThis simulation shows the effect of a wave traveling in the x-direction on a second charge inside a receiving antenna. Only the y-component of the change in the electric field is shown (so an oscillation frequency of zero will show nothing, because there is only a constant electric field).
Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. Electromagnetic Plane WavesThis simulation shows a plane electromagnetic wave traveling in the y-direction. Both electric and magnetic fields are shown in the 3D representation.
Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. PolarizationThis simulation shows the electric field component[s] for a wave traveling straight towards the observer in the +y direction. A polarized wave was previously defined to be an electromagnetic wave that has its electric field confined to change in only one direction. In this simulation we further investigate polarized waves.
Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. Wave EquationIn this simulation we look at the dynamics of waves; the physical situations and laws give rise to waves. We start with a string that has a standing wave on it and look at the forces acting on each end of a small segment of the string due to the neighboring sections. For visualization purposes the string is shown as a series of masses but the physical system is a continuous string. Although the derivation is for a string, similar results occur in many other systems. The ends of the section of string we are interested in are marked with red dots in the simulation. The tension acting on each end is shown with a vector (in red) and its components (green and blue).
Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. Oscillator ChainIn this simulation we examine waves that occur on chains of masses with mass M coupled together with elastic, Hooke's law forces (F = -?x where ? is the spring constant and x is the amount the spring stretches). The masses are constrained to only move up and down so that the stretching depends only on the difference in the y locations of the masses.
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. Non-Linear WavesThis simulations shows what happens if forces other than tension act on a string. Some additional forces cause the dispersion we saw in simulations 22 and 23 but friction, dissipation and nonlinearity can cause other behavior as we will see here.
Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. SolitonsThis simulation explores a special solution of the non-linear wave equation where the effects of dispersion and dissipation (which tend to make a wave pulse spread out) are exactly compensated for by a nonlinear force (which, as we have seen, tends to cause steepening of a wave). In this case there may be a special wave pulse shape that can travel and maintain its shape called a soliton.
Last Modified June 1, 2018
This file has previous versions. Source Code Documents (3)Sine Waves Source CodeThis source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Sine Wave JavaScript Model. Unzip this archive in your Ejs workspace to compile and run this model using EjsS 5. Although EjsS is a Java program, EjsS 5 creates a stand alone JavaScript program from this source code.
Last Modified March 20, 2015
This file has previous versions. Speed of a Wave Source CodeThis source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Speed of a Wave JavaScript Model. Unzip this archive in your Ejs workspace to compile and run this model using EjsS 5. Although EjsS is a Java program, EjsS 5 creates a stand alone JavaScript program from this source code.
Last Modified March 20, 2015
This file has previous versions. EM Waves from an Accelerating ChargeThis simulation shows an accelerating positive charge and the electric field around it in two dimensions. Because the charge is accelerated there will be a disturbance in the field. The energy carried by the disturbance comes from the input energy needed to accelerate the charge.
Last Modified April 27, 2024
This file has previous versions. |