Transverse Wave and Longitudinal Wave

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

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There are 21 translations, select to view translated versionPortuguês - Portuguese(by viktor_pt: 21)Ελληνικά - Greek(by mariakontesina: 0)Magyar - Hungarian(by nemethzs: 0)Português - Portuguese(by Angela Canelhas: 0)Svenska - Swedish(by ecjn: 0)Nederlands - Dutch(by artjos: 0)English(by haswan: 5)English(by Mostafa60: 0)Dansk - Danish(by LasseDelphi: 79)中文 - Chinese traditional(by Fu-Kwun Hwang: 1)English(by paulskidmore: 0)Latviešu - Latvian(by Agnis: 0)English(by WindLevel: 0)Türkçe - Turkish(by ress: 0)Shqip - Albanian(by Klid: 0)Ελληνικά - Greek(by tasos: 0)English(by yashkumar: 0)English(by NAMANSAR: 0)English(by jschwagl: 0)Suomi - Finnish(by desibeli: 0)Español - Spanish(by nomarak: 0)
Higher number at the end means more translation been done.

or

This java applet let you visualize the difference between transverse wave and longitudinal wave.
 You will find both moving wave and standing wave.


 Usage :
1. You can view transverse wave or longitudinal wave from the above selection.
2. Those blue lines on the left are dispacements relative to the equilibrium point, while those red lines on the right are relate to velocity of wave medium at those points.
3. The distance between two circle dots are 0.5 wavelength. (moving out of phase)
   Click and drag left mouse button to move them horizontally but keep the same distances.
   Click the right mouse button to locate position for one of the black dot,
   drag the right mouse button to position the second one.
   The distance between dots will be shown in unit of wavelength.
 4. Click the right mouse button and release it at the same location to toggle the animation.

Registed user can get files related to this applet for offline access.
Problem viewing java?Add http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ to exception site list
If java program did not show up, please download and install latest Java RUN TIME

There are 21 translations, select to view translated versionPortuguês - Portuguese(by viktor_pt: 21)Ελληνικά - Greek(by mariakontesina: 0)Magyar - Hungarian(by nemethzs: 0)Português - Portuguese(by Angela Canelhas: 0)Svenska - Swedish(by ecjn: 0)Nederlands - Dutch(by artjos: 0)English(by haswan: 5)English(by Mostafa60: 0)Dansk - Danish(by LasseDelphi: 79)中文 - Chinese traditional(by Fu-Kwun Hwang: 1)English(by paulskidmore: 0)Latviešu - Latvian(by Agnis: 0)English(by WindLevel: 0)Türkçe - Turkish(by ress: 0)Shqip - Albanian(by Klid: 0)Ελληνικά - Greek(by tasos: 0)English(by yashkumar: 0)English(by NAMANSAR: 0)English(by jschwagl: 0)Suomi - Finnish(by desibeli: 0)Español - Spanish(by nomarak: 0)
Higher number at the end means more translation been done.

or

Subject:
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 23:05:21 +0100
From: "Anthony Vinters" <Tony@g0wfg.demon.co.uk>
To: <hwang@phy03.phy.ntnu.edu.tw>
I have found the tansverse and longitudinal waves. They are excellent,
exactly what is needed. Being able to show the the phases of particles
relative to each other is very useful.
I will be able to direct my students to your site so they can see for
themselves.
Once again thank you for your efforts the results are most pleasing.
Mr.A.E.Vinters.
Rishworth School

no

my name is nabeel razzaq......my A level physics exam is tomorrow morning....i discovered this site right now....and i swear it been a great help to me...now i am comfortable i know many things....my concepts are clear....thank you to how ever made this site.....high regards for him....

[quote:b36c9c9c8f="nabeel"]my name is nabeel razzaq......my A level physics exam is tomorrow morning....i discovered this site right now....and i swear it been a great help to me...now i am comfortable i know many things....my concepts are clear....thank you to how ever made this site.....high regards for him....

[Patrick Roche]

I would very much appreciate getting the code for the transverse/longitudinal wave applet.

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

You should have received it at your email account! However it was written many years ago with JDK1.0.2.

[chfahlke]

Dear Dr Hwang,
I would very much appreciate getting the code for the transverse/longitudinal wave applet.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
Christoph Fahlke

[abdalla]

thanks amazing :lol:

[royfairs]

As a physics teacher of some 32 years I find this site has a compact collection of a lot of the demos I've used in a compact format. Well done. Is there any simple book that can be used to develop futher ones?

Thanx & rgds Roy

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

Some of the applets are created almost 8-10 years ago with JDK1.0.2.

However, there are many recently generated simulaton were build by a tool called Easy Java Simulation.

You can find out article about EJS from Easy java simulation (Download and related informations)

You can find a book about EJS from Paco's web site. (Author of EJS)

And you should be able to download all the simulation when you login to the system.


Fu-Kwun :-)

[Rennaman]

I just found this website. Thank you for taking the time to create it and make it available to teachers and students. I plan to use it in a lesson on waves this week!

Dave Menshew, M.A.Ed. NBCT
Lead Teacher, James C. Enochs High School
Forensic Biotech Career Pathway Program

[rajettan]

your explanation and animations are great.but one doubt.why light is transverse?

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

You can say it is the law of nature.
I do not know if you can accept the following explanation:

Light is electro-magnetic wave. It is the change of electric field which cause the magnetic field produced at near by space (the direction of induced magnetic field is perpendicular to electric field).
And the change of magnetic cause the electric field produced at near by space(the direction of induced electric field is perpendicular to the magnetic field).
Think about the direction of electric/magnetic flux and you will know the distribution of induced magnetic/electric field. 
And the above continuous process is what we called wave.
From the definition: we know it is a transverse wave. (I use other laws: Faradays's law etc. to explain the direction between E and B field)
Try to draw it by yourself on a piece of paper or look at it more closely at the simulation itself.

[deb]

This java applet let you visualize the difference between transverse wave and longitudinal wave.
 You will find both moving wave and standing wave.
<applet width="520" height="180" codebase="/java/waveType/" code="waveType.class"><param name="twave" value="transverse wave"><param name="lwave" value="longitudinal wave"><param name="shead" value="distance between dots = "><param name="unit" value=" wavelength"></applet>
 Usage :
1. You can view transverse wave or longitudinal wave from the above selection.
2. Those blue lines on the left are dispacements relative to the equilibrium point, while those red lines on the right are relate to velocity of wave medium at those points.
3. The distance between two circle dots are 0.5 wavelength. (moving out of phase)
   Click and drag left mouse button to move them horizontally but keep the same distances.
   Click the right mouse button to locate position for one of the black dot,
   drag the right mouse button to position the second one.
   The distance between dots will be shown in unit of wavelength.
 4. Click the right mouse button and release it at the same location to toggle the animation.

The article is very useful for my studies,thanks

[Solar]

Great simulation.
I have a question about waves.
I would like to know how can I calculate the value of the energy needed to make the "next" particle with a mass m in a string to start to oscillate. The wave for example is transverse.

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

For a wave to continue spread out, you will need to supply energy continuously.
 dK= (1/2) (dm)*v² =(1/2)* e*dx*v²
where e is the density per unit length.
P=dk/dt= (1/2)* e*dx/dt*v²= (1/2)*e*u *v²  (The power need to be supplied)
where u is the speed of the wave.
Because v is a function of time v=vo*sim(w*t), average of v² will give you (1/2)vo² and you will find average power.

[nrgtik]

First, I would like to thank you, Mr Hwang, about the animation concerning the longitudinal and transverse waves. Even after almost 5 years this animation made me understanding easily the difference between these two types of waves.

I am interested in standing longitudinal wave and I would like to model numerically what happens (pressure temperature and velocity) inside a one-end closed tube.

If it is possible, could you please clarify me how can I proceed to reach my objective and which equations shall I use.

Thank you again for your kind help.

Best regards

[lookang]

using a wave function plotter, i happen to know for transverse traveling wave the formula is



transverse wave

U(x,t) = U_o*sin(w*x-t)  for right traveling wave

for stationary wave

U(x,t) = sin(t)*U_o*sin(w*x)
or
U(x,t) = U_o*sin(w*x-t)  +U_o*sin(w*x+t) 

for longitudinal wave

each particle is doing a motion U(x,t) = U_o*sin(w*x-t)  about it's own equlibrium with each obeying U_o*sin(w*x-t)

i did by  _view.trail.addPoint(x+0.9*u,0);

if you line them it will appear to be a longitudinal traveling wave


for stationary longitudinal wave
i suspect adding
U(x,t) = U_o*sin(w*x-t)  +U_o*sin(w*x+t) 
will work.

but i am not sure if it is pressure, will the equation need to differentiate? testing now


i await Prof hwang to reply

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

I am interested in standing longitudinal wave and I would like to model numerically what happens (pressure temperature and velocity) inside a one-end closed tube.

Sound wave is a pressure wave. Please write down in more detail:
1. temperature: do you mean temperature of the air? Temperature is a global quantity (average of kinetic energy of gas).
what do you mean by you want to model it numerically?
2. What is the velocity you are talking about? wave velocity? ...?

[ferrari]

Can you tell me what metals have the greatest reflectivity properties for transverse and longitudinal waves.

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

When wave propagate from one media to another media,
 i.e. wave has different index of refraction (or wave speed is different in two different media),
then some wave will be reflected.
The closer the index of refraction, the less amount of wave will be reflected under the same conditions.
If you want more wave to be reflected, you need to find larger differences in index of refraction between two media.

For electromagnetic wave (or light), metal with better conductivity will has better reflectivity.

[neetusharma]

Good thing here to educate people on this but I think more than this is the translation in 16 languages that you have done.This increases the reach of this writeup.Good

[Boomi]

I 100% agree with you

[mr_phys12]

Rest assured that I will spread physics mania to my students through this java applet..Thank's to you for sharing your expertise...

[diinxcom]

-*-
I agree... Hahaha thank you!