Friday, July 3, 2015

What are two properties of waves that affect the energy of waves?

Wavelength and frequency are two properties that effect the energy of a wave.


Energy is directly proportional to a wave’s frequency. This means that as the frequency of a wave increases so does the wave’s energy. The relationship between a wave’s frequency and energy can be represented via the formula identified below.


E = hv


E = Energy in Joules (J)


v= frequency in hertz, or 1/s


h= Plank’s constant = 6.626 x 10 ^ -32 s


The wavelength and energy of a wave are inversely proportional to one another. This means that waves with larger wavelengths have less energy. The following equation relates a wave’s energy and wavelength.


E = hc/λ


E = Energy in Joules (J)


h= Plank’s constant = 6.626 x 10 ^ -32 s


c = the speed of light in a vacuum = 3.0 x 10 ^8 m/s


λ = the wavelength in meters

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