The Graph Representation of Waves
The Graph Representation of Waves
The 2 main graphs used to represent waves are displacement - distance and displacement - time graph.
-Displacement - distance graph
A displacement - distance graph shows the position of each particle in a wave relative to it's distance from a reference point.
The x axis = distance and the y axis = displacement. why?
In most scientific graphs, y axis is consisting of dependent variable and x axis contains independent variable. why?
In fact, you can put the vice versa, however it is harder to read. It is because our brain read from left to right and them from bottom to top. why? It is due to our eye structure. It brings a wider horizontal visual field.
Displacement - The displacement of a particle on a wave is it's distance in a specific direction from it's position.
Distance = The distance is the total length of the path travelled by a wave, regardless of the direction. It is a scalar quantity. Distance measure "how much ground has been covered".
A displacement distance graph is a snapshot of the wave at any given time. It is used to find amplitude and wavelength.
-Displacement - time graph
A displacement - time graph of a wave shows how the displacement of a single point on a wave changes over time. It is used to find amplitude, time period, and frequency.
Time Period - the time period is the time it takes for one oscillation.