State the principle of superposition of waves and illustrate it schematically.

Whenever two or more waves travelling through the same medium at the same time pass through each other, the net displacement of the medium at any point in space-time is simply given by the sum of the individual wave displacements.An easy way to illustrate this schematically would be by sketching both constructive and destructive cases using sine and cosine waves. More complicated waveforms could them be later also considered (square, triangular, etc...).

PV

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

What is a neutrino?


An ideal gas within a closed system undergoes an isothermal expansion from an initial volume of 1m^3 to 2m^3. Given that the initial pressure of the gas is 10^5 Pa, find the final pressure of the gas following the expansion.


How would you explain general relativity?


A trolley of mass 0.75kg is running along a frictionless track at a constant speed of 0.7ms-1, as the trolley passes below a mass of 0.5kg the mass drops a short vertical distance onto the trolley. Calculate the new velocity of the trolley and mass.