Waves

Question : 5

Total: 27

You have learnt that a travelling wave in one dimension is represented by a function y=f(x,t) where x and t must appear in the combination (x–vt) to (x+vt), i.e. y=f(x±vt). Is the converse true? Examine if the following functions for y can possibly represent a travelling wave :
(a) (x–vt)2
(b) log[

(x+vt)

]
(c)

(x+vt)

Solution:

No, the converse is not true.
The basic requirement for a wave function to represent a travelling wave is that for all values of x and t, the wave function must have a finite value.
Out of the given functions for y, none of these satisfies this condition, so these functions do not represent a travelling wave.

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