How do you increase and decrease wavelength?

The number of complete wavelengths in a given unit of time is called frequency (f). As a wavelength increases in size, its frequency and energy (E) decrease. From these equations you may realize that as the frequency increases, the wavelength gets shorter. As the frequency decreases, the wavelength gets longer.

What happens to the wave when you decrease the wavelength?

So if a wave slows down, its wavelength will decrease. Although the wave slows down, its frequency remains the same, due to the fact that its wavelength is shorter. When waves travel from one medium to another the frequency never changes. As waves travel into the denser medium, they slow down and wavelength decreases.

What happens to light waves when you increase the amplitude?

The energy transported by a wave is directly proportional to the square of the amplitude. So whatever change occurs in the amplitude, the square of that effect impacts the energy. This means that a doubling of the amplitude results in a quadrupling of the energy.

How do you find constructive and destructive interference?

For constructive interference, the difference in wavelengths will be an integer number of whole wavelengths. For destructive interference it will be an integer number of whole wavelengths plus a half wavelength. Think of the point exactly between the two slits.

How does decreasing the wavelength increase the frequency of a wave?

Explanation: As wavelength decreases, waves become closer together. This means that as they pass a certain point the waves will be more frequent. Think about it in terms of cars where the distance between cars is the wavelength and the amount that pass you is the frequency.

What changes when light enters a new medium?

When light passes from one medium to another, it changes speed. For example, when light passes from air to glass, it slows down. However, if light enters the glass at an angle other than 90°, the light bends as it slows down. The bending of light as it changes speed in a new medium is called refraction.

Why does the wavelength of light decrease when it passes from vacuum into a medium?

Light travels fastest in a vacuum. When the light encounters a medium, such as glass, the charged particles that make up the glass interfere, slowing the wave down. The wave continues to oscillate at the same rate, however, so as the wave slows, the wavelength must contract.

Why does the amplitude of a wave decrease?

amplitude, in physics, the maximum displacement or distance moved by a point on a vibrating body or wave measured from its equilibrium position. It is equal to one-half the length of the vibration path. When the amplitude of a wave steadily decreases because its energy is being lost, it is said to be damped.

What happens to the medium as a wave moves through it?

Q: How do the particles of the medium move when a wave passes through them? A: The particles of the medium just vibrate in place. As they vibrate, they pass the energy of the disturbance to the particles next to them, which pass the energy to the particles next to them, and so on.

What is destructive interference of light?

A pair of light or sound waves will experience interference when they pass through each other. Destructive interference occurs when the maxima of two waves are 180 degrees out of phase: a positive displacement of one wave is cancelled exactly by a negative displacement of the other wave.

Do photons slow down as they travel through a medium?

The photons themselves do not slow down. But their passage through a medium involves absorption by electrons and re-emission. For some materials such as water, light will slow down more than electrons will. Thus, an electron in water can travel faster than light in water.

Why does light travel slower in different materials?

That’s due to the fact that light scatters off the molecules that make-up different materials. The photons themselves do not slow down. But their passage through a medium involves absorption by electrons and re-emission. For some materials such as water, light will slow down more than electrons will.

What happens to light when it passes from a fast medium?

The refraction of light when it passes from a fast medium to a slow medium bends the light ray toward the normal to the boundary between the two media. The amount of bending depends on the indices of refraction of the two media and is described quantitatively by Snell’s Law,” source: Hyperphysics.

What happens to electrons in a radio frequency wave?

What happens with radio frequency is that electromagnetic waves are generated and radiated, not electrons. This is a consequence of current -i.e. the movement of electrons in a conductor (the antenna) driven by a time varying voltage. The current in the antenna generates both electric and magnetic fields and this field is radiated.