Physics Notes for Depth Study:

Complete Questions that are provided on Canvas and review questions for textbooks.
Surfing physics + Pearson + Jacaranda in the end

Wave properties notes:

A wave is a travelling disturbance that transfers energy without transporting
matter. It can occur in one, two or three dimensions.

Mechanical Waves:
 Any wave that needs a medium to travel in is called a mechanical wave.
 The particles of the matter move up and down or backward and forward about an
average position, and they move back to the same position after the wave has
passed, this movement transfers the energy from one place to another.

Electromagnetic Waves:
 Transverse waves consist of alternating electric and magnetic force fields positioned
90 degrees relative to each other and to the direction of energy propagation.
-Electromagnetic waves do not need a medium.
-Speed of light = 3x10^8

Wave Pulses:
 A single wave pulse can be formed by giving a slinky spring or rope a single up and
down motion, if motion is repeated, each successive section of the slinky will move up
and down, moving the wave forward along the slinky.
 Periodic waves are disturbances that repeat themselves at regular intervals,
disturbance travels but medium doesn’t.

Transverse Wave:
 When particles travel in water or through a rope, spring or string the particles vibrate
up and down in a direction perpendicular to the direction of motion of the wave
energy
 When the particles are displaced upwards from the average they reach a
maximum positive displacement at a point called a crest
 Maximum positive position from average is a crest (displacement)
 Maximum negative position from average is a trough (displacement
Longitudinal Wave:
 In a longitudinal mechanical wave, the particles oscillates parallel to the direction
of energy propagation.
 A compression is an area where the coils of the slinky come together.
Rarefactions are regions where the coils are spread apart
 Wavelength is the distance between these

Measuring waves:
 amplitude of a wave is the maximum displacement of a particle from the
average position
 Two particles are in phase if they have the same displacements from the
average position and are moving in the same transverse direction.
 Wavelength (λ) is the distance between any two successive troughs/crests or
points in phase
 Frequency, f, is the number of complete cycles that pass a given point per
second
 Period (T) is the distance between two successive points in phase in a
displacement–time graph and is measured in seconds
 T=1/f, where T is the period of the wave (in s), and f is the frequency of the
wave (in Hz)
 v = fλ
 Equilibrium: the resting position of the particle
 Displacement: how far away the particle moves from the equilibrium

Wave Behaviour:

Reflection:
 When a medium ends or changes it either is transmitted, absorbed or reflected
 When a wave pulse hits the end of the rope that is free to move (free boundary),
the pulse returns with no change of phase, when the rope is fixed, the reflected
wave is inverted 180 degrees
 When a transverse wave is reflected, amplitude is not the same due to energy
loss (heat, absorption)
 The more rigid/dense a wall is, the more the wave energy will be reflected and
the less it will be absorbed, however some is always absorbed
 Angle of incidence = angle of reflection, law of reflection, true for all surfaces
 Seen in both em and mechanical waves

Wavefronts:
 2D and 3D waves, such as water waves, travel as wavefronts
  When close to source, waves are curved or spherical when generated in 3D. when
a wave has travelled a long distance it is almost straight and called plane wave
 a line perpendicular to the wave front can represent direction of motion, called a
ray
 The normal is an imaginary line 90 degrees from the surface

Absorption:
 process in which light or sound is taken in and retained by a material,
then converted into other forms of energy

Refraction:
 Refraction is a change in the direction of a wave caused by a change in its speed,
going from one medium to another
 Refracted away from the normal and gains speed when light travels from a more
denser to a less denser medium, refracted towards the normal when less denser
to more denser medium.
 wavelength and speed of the wave change but the frequency remains unchanged
 slowing down = more refraction


-N is the refractive index of medium x
-C is the speed of light in a vacuum
-V is the speed of light in the medium


-n1 is refractive index of first material
-v1 is speed of light in first material
-n2 is refractive index of second material
-nv2 is speed of light in second material

 Refractive index in:

-Water: 1.33
-Air: 1
-Vacuum: 1

Snell’s Law:


 n1 is refractive index of incident medium
 n2 is refractive index of refracting medium
 i is the angle of incidence
 r is the angle of refraction
Internal Reflection:
 light passing from a medium with a low refraction index to high refractive index
refract towards the normal
 light passing from a medium with a high refraction index to low refractive index
refract towards the normal
-as angle of incident increases, angle of refraction gets closer to 90 degrees
 When the angle of refraction is 90 degrees (the critical angle), the light is refracted
on the interface between the two mediums
 Once angle is increased past 90 degrees, no refraction occurs, instead the light
reflects into the original medium and is called total internal reflection

If light ray passes from medium x into air or vacuum, nx is refractive index

Diffraction:
 Bending of waves as they pass through gaps or travel around objects.
 Smaller gap = greater diffraction
 Wavelengths comparable to or larger than the diameter of the obstacle or gap
produce significant diffraction. This can be expressed as the ratio lambda/width
of gap, is greater than or equal to 1
 Lower frequency waves are diffracted more

Dispersion:
 when white light is separated into its constituent colours when passing through a
refractive medium
 different wavelengths of light travel at different speed when moving through a
medium (other than vacuum), causing refraction at different angles

Superposition:
 Superposition occurs when multiple waves interact and their amplitudes are added
together to give the amplitude of the total disturbance of the medium. To find a
resultant wave, we add individual displacements of the medium at regular intervals.
start with significant points to add
 Constructive superposition occurs when two identical waves are superimposed and
they are in phase.
 destructive superposition occurs when two identical waves are superimposed and
they are out of phase.
 Progressive waves are waves that move freely through a medium until a boundary is
met
Orders of Magnitude + Sig Fig:

Prefix Name Prefix Symbol Multiplier

Giga G 10^9
Mega M 10^6
Kilo k 10^3
Hect h 10^2
Deca da 10
Deci d 10^-1
Centi c 10^-2
Milli m 10^-3
Micro Mew symbol 10^-6
Nano n 10^-9

Divide or multiply by 1000x when moving by power of 3

Significant figures:
 Zeros between non zero digits are significant
 Non zero digits are significant
 Trailing zeros are not significant unless marked or after a
decimal
 Leading zeroes are not signicant
 1. Description of fibre optics

The basic structure of an optical fibre consists of three parts; the core, the cladding, and the
coating or buffer. Fibre optics deals with the transmission of light energy through
transparent fibres. Two methods describe how light is transmitted along the optical fibre,
firstly, ray theory which uses the concepts of light reflection and refraction. The second
method, mode theory, which treats light as electromagnetic waves.

2. Principles behind how fibre optics work

3. The difference between the core and cladding

4. Types of optical fibres and an outline of how they differ

Single Mode Fibres:
 Single-mode fibres have a lower signal loss and a higher information capacity
(bandwidth) than multimode fibres. Single-mode fibres can transfer higher amounts
of data due to low fibre dispersion.
 Uses a LASER as a light source, only propagates one mode as the core size (diameter)
is 8-10 micrometres, this only allows the fundamental or lowest order mode to
propagate around a 1300 nanometre

Multimode Fibres:
 Multimode fibers can propagate over 100 modes
 A large core size and a higher NA have several advantages including light is launched
into a multimode fiber with more ease, easier to make fiber connections, during fiber
splicing, core-to-core alignment becomes less critical and they permit the use of LEDS
compared to lasers, which are cheaper, less compex and last longer

5. An outline of attenuation and how this impacts the use

of fibre optics
 Attenuation is the loss of optical power as light travels along the fibre
 Attenuation is caused by absorption, scattering, and bending
losses. Each mechanism of loss is influenced by fibre-material properties and
fibre structure. However, loss is also present at fibre connections

6. Outline of the types of dispersion

 7. Two specific advantages of using fibre optics and an
outline of one specific example of their use.

The results of the experiment are supportive of the wave-like behaviour of

light. The pattern of smaller angles of refraction corresponding to larger angles
of incidence confirms the rules derived from Snell's Law. Utilizing Snell's Law,
the refractive index of the glass was then calculated as 1.52, which is denser
than the refractive index of air (1), thus providing evidence of light's behaviour
as it propagates through the medium, showing how light slows down and
bends compared to its behaviour in air. These findings are consistent with the
characteristics of waves, where properties such as wavelength and speed
change upon encountering different materials. Hence, the outcomes of the
experiment lead to the understanding that light exhibits wave-like properties
when migrating from one medium to another.