IB Physics C3 Notes

In Topics C.1 and C.2, you learned about oscillations, simple harmonic motion, and the types and properties of waves. In this topic, you cover the behavior of wavefronts. To understand this visually, this first starts by understanding how to visually represent waves. This can be done one of two ways:

1. Ray diagrams – here, arrows show the direction in which the wave energy travels.
2. Wavefront diagram – here, circles show the oscillation points of waves moving together i.e. crests or troughs.

Often these are combined into one diagram, as shown below. However, note that rays and wavefronts are always at right angles to one another.