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PhysicsCourse 03

Waves & Oscillations

From one oscillator to travelling waves, interference, resonance, sound, and Fourier thinking.

Core~32 minGrasp Physics
SHMWave equationSuperpositionResonanceSoundFourier analysis
Step 01Course 3 · Waves

A wave transports energy and information, not bulk matter.

A local disturbance couples to its neighbours. The resulting pattern travels with speed v=fλv = f\lambda while the medium's elements oscillate around equilibrium.

Amplitude measures the size of the disturbance; frequency counts cycles per second; wavelength measures spatial repetition; phase tells where in the cycle a point lies.