Work through the list without notes. If you cannot do a statement, follow its link, then come back. Guide = study guide; Practice = practice questions.
Understanding
- I can define period, frequency and wavelength in my own words and give their units. (Guide: “Waves that repeat”; Practice Q1)
- I can explain that the amplitude of a wave does not depend on its frequency or period. (Guide: “Waves that repeat”; Practice Q6c)
- I can explain that the medium sets the speed and the source sets the frequency, so the wavelength follows from both. (Guide: “Speed, frequency and wavelength”; Practice Q3, Q7d)
- I can link frequency to pitch and amplitude to loudness, and say that energy carried increases with both. (Guide: “Pitch, loudness and energy”; Practice Q4, Q6d)
Calculation and skills
- I can use T = 1/f and v = fλ, with units, in either direction. (Guide: Worked example 1; Practice Q1, Q6a)
- I can read A, λ and T from the correct type of graph, and measure λ and A from the right points. (Guide: Figure 1; Practice Q2)
- I can sketch displacement–position and displacement–time graphs with numbered scales for a given wave. (Practice Q6b)
- I can use x(t) = A cos(2πft) at one location and y(x) = A cos(2πx/λ) at one instant, in radians, saying what x means in each, to find a displacement. (Guide: “Equations for a sinusoidal wave”; Practice Q5)
- I can derive λ = (1/f)√(F_T/μ) for a wave on a string and use it. (Practice Q7b)
Reasoning
- I can predict how λ changes when f changes in the same medium, or when v changes for the same source. (Guide: Worked example 2; Practice Q3, Q6c)
- I can explain why v = fλ follows from the wave moving one wavelength in one period. (Guide: Worked example 1d)
- I can evaluate a claim that tension, amplitude or loudness changes the frequency or the speed of a wave. (Practice Q4, Q7d)
All ticked? Move on to Topic 14.3, Boundary Behavior of Waves and Polarization, or return to the course roadmap.