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Characteristics of Wave Motion
Wave motion is the propagation of a disturbance produced in a medium by the repeated periodic motion of the particles of the medium.
It is only the energy of the disturbance that moves forward without any mass transfer.
In an elastic medium, the frequency and the amplitude of oscillation of each particle is the same. However, each particle starts vibrating a little later than its predecessor and thus, there is a regular phase difference between the successive particles of the medium.
The wave velocity is different from the particle velocity. While the wave travels with a uniform velocity, the velocity of the particle is different at different positions. It is maximum at the mean position and zero at the extreme positions of oscillation.
Waves may undergo reflection, refraction, interference, dispersion and diffraction.
The energy of a wave is partly kinetic and partly potential and the total energy remains constant.
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