Physics 133
Spring Quarter 2004
Quiz for 29 March 2004
Email the quiz back to me at aubrecht@mps.ohio-state.edu.
Put your name and email address at the top of the quiz.
The quiz is due before class today, 29 March 2004.
Todayıs quiz is a twofer: two parts worth a total of 20 points.
1. a. Explain the reason that the time dependence of a wave in one dimension is connected with the spatial dependence of the same wave. Be explicit in your answer.
b. Now explain how your answer would change for a wave traveling in two dimensions and three dimensions. Why would it or would it not change?
2. Explain the difference, if any, between initial conditions and boundary conditions.
take me to the journal assignments
Gordon’s solution will appear here
1. A wave must travel at some speed, and that connects space and time pieces. Recall that we have the wavefunction determined by the phase function, whose derivative is the speed (following a point of constant phase). That derivative gives c = (frequency)
x (wavelength).2. Boundary conditions tell us what sunset of functions can be used to represent waves; initial conditions tell us which (if any) of these can contribute for that particular set.
aubrecht@mps.ohio-state.edu [latest revision, 31 March 2004]