In Waves

Physics A completed the new material for the sound chapter, looking at wave interactions. We contrasted constructive and destructive interference, looked at the phenomenon of reflection and the formation of standing waves. We'll work on an activity tomorrow that will let you model many of these ideas and see wave formation in action. Physics B worked on this activity today, making transverse and longitudinal waves on a spring and using a string to produce standing waves. Tomorrow for B will be a review for Thursday's exam, so come ready with questions.

Intro Physics began their work on waves. We defined waves, contrasted mechanical and electromagnetic waves, described simple harmonic motion and focused attention on the fact that waves move energy place to place. Tomorrow, we look at transverse and longitudinal waves and talk about physical features of waves.

Honors Physics began a study of light and reflection. We describe EM waves, looked at the EM spectrum and then jumped into reflection and image formation by plane mirrors. Remember that they only make virtual images with a magnification of 1 and where image and object distance are equal. We'll see how things change when the give the mirror a curve tomorrow.