Reflection
And
Standing waves
Reflection
• What is reflection?
It is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two
media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it
originated.
Eg: reflection of light, reflection of sound, reflection of water waves
Wave reflection at a free boundary
Consider a pulse wave travelling on a
stretched rope whose ends forms a ring
around the post. Assume the ring is free
to slide along the post without friction.
• Here as the pulse travels to the right,
each point of the rope moves up and
down.
• When the pulse reaches the boundary, the rope is free to move up as usual, and it pulls the ring up with it.
Then, the ring is pulled back down by the tension in the rope.
• This causes a pulse to travel back along the rope to the left. This is called reflection.
• The reflected pulse is upright and has the same amplitude as the incident pulse.
Wave reflection at fixed boundary
Consider a pulse travelling on a stretched rope that is
fixed at one end.
• When the pulse reaches the wall, the rope exerts an
upward force on the wall, and the wall in turn exerts an
equal and opposite reaction force on the rope.
• This downward force on the rope causes a
displacement in the direction opposite the
displacement of the original pulse.
• The reflected pulse will be inverted.
You can see that the reflection has inverted the wave.
(The image is upside-down
Sound waves can also be reflected – this has a special name. A reflected sound wave is called
an ‘echo’.
An echo is formed when a sound is reflected off hard, flat surfaces such as a wall or cliff.
Bats use sound reflections, echoes, to help them ‘see’.
They emit a high-frequency sound (sometimes called ‘ultrasound’) to help them find
objects at night.
Standing wave
• Consider a string attached on one end to a rigid support and that is shaken
up and down in regular motion at the other end.
• Here the reflected waves interfere with the incident waves
• If the string is vibrated at exactly high frequency, a standing wave will be
formed- that means a resultant wave pattern that appears to be stationary
on the string.
• Standing wave is a wave pattern that results when two waves of the same
frequency, wavelength, and amplitude travel in opposite directions and
interfere.
• It consists of alternative regions of constructive and destructive
interference
• [Link]
Standing waves
Standing waves
The figure shows four possible standing waves for a given length.
• The point at which complete destructive interference happens are
called nodes. That is a point in standing wave that maintains zero
displacement.
• The point at which the string vibrates with the largest amplitude
between two adjacent nodes is called antinodes. Largest
displacement occurs at anti nodes.
• Music instruments like guitar and violin use principle of standing
waves to produce different sounds
• Only certain frequencies and wavelengths produce standing wave
patterns.
• The wavelengths required to produce standing waves are a function
of the rope length. These are called ‘harmonics’.
• The ends of the string must be nodes because these points cannot
vibrate.
The first harmonic corresponds to a standing wave with a wavelength
of 2L if L is the rope length.
The second harmonic corresponds to a wavelength of L.
The third harmonic corresponds to a wavelength of 2/3 L
In general, For n’th harmonic, wavelength λn = 2L / n, where n is any
integer.
[Link]