ScienceVerseLearning path: Waves
The concepts to learn before Waves, in order. Each step links to its page and, where one exists, its quiz.
Sign in to see which steps you have already opened and which quizzes you have completed.
Your path
- MotionDirect prerequisite
The change in an object's position over time relative to a reference frame. Kinematics describes motion using position, velocity (the rate of change of position) and acceleration (the rate of change of velocity), without yet asking what causes it.
- EnergyDirect prerequisite
The capacity to do work, taking forms such as kinetic energy (associated with motion) and potential energy (associated with position or configuration, such as height in a gravitational field). The total energy of an isolated system is conserved: energy changes form but is never created or destroyed.
- WavesYour goal
A wave is a disturbance that travels from place to place, carrying energy without carrying the material along with it. Mechanical waves such as sound need a medium, while electromagnetic waves such as light can cross empty space. Every wave obeys v = fλ, and when waves overlap they add together (superposition), producing constructive and destructive interference.
Where to go next
Concepts that build directly on Waves:
- Light: Light is an electromagnetic wave that travels through vacuum at exactly 299,792,458 m/s and more slowly through materials. At a boundary it reflects (angle of reflection equals angle of incidence) and refracts according to Snell's law, n₁ sin θ₁ = n₂ sin θ₂. Visible light spans roughly 400–750 nm, and it also behaves as a stream of photons, each with energy E = hf.