« Electrical energy in the home | Main | Moving about »

Comments

Checking the definition of amplitude in a compression (sound) wave. My understanding is that the amplitude, being the sound wave medium's
maximum displacement is represented by the distance from the centre of a rarefaction to the start of a compression.

Is this correct?

Posted by: Paul Arena | September 25, 2009 10:05 AM

Paul,
Yes, the amplitude of a sound wave is the medium's maximum displacement from the centre of a rarefaction to the point midway between rarefaction and compression, which I guess you can define as the beginning of compression.

Posted by: Joe Khachan | September 25, 2009 10:16 PM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Enter the code shown below before pressing post


© 2009 The University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia. Phone +61 2 9351 2222.
ABN: 15 211 513 464 CRICOS Number: 00026A
Authorised by: Joe Khachan, Director of First Year Physics.
The views expressed on this blog are those of the respective authors and not those of the University of Sydney.