Oscillations, Waves, and Optics

Hello all and thanks for reading!

So tomorrow I have an exam in my physics class, Oscillations, Waves, and Optics (PHYS 130). This class covers, as the course name implies, several topics within physics. First we covered oscillatory motion, a special type of motion in which an object moves cyclically and returns to a fixed point after each full cycle (the fixed time interval in which the object completes one full cycle is defined as the period T of the object's motion). One specific case of oscillatory motion is simple harmonic motion (SHM), which is the basis for the behavior of waves.

And so the study of SHM leads directly into the second part of the course, which is about waves. A wave, in the simplest sense, is the transfer of energy through a medium via a pulse (also called a disturbance). There are several basic concepts about waves
, including interference (unlike particles, two waves can occupy the same physical space), the superposition principle (the result of interference; the different ways in which waves can combine with eachother), and other important ones as well (boundary conditions, reflection, transmission, and so on). These concepts are then applied to many different types of mechanical waves, such as water waves, seismic waves (earthquakes), sound waves, and vibrating strings. Mechanical waves require a medium to travel through (i.e. air, water, or any form of matter). There are also electromagnetic waves, (a.k.a. light waves), which, unlike mechanical waves, do not require a medium and can propagate through empty space. An electromagnetic wave consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields which travel perpendicular to eachother. EM waves are the basis for optics, the study of light!

Light is just simply the propogation of EM waves, which we call electromagnetic radiation. There are different forms of electromagnetic radiation, all of which lie somewhere on the electromagnetic spectrum (Gamma waves, radio waves/microwaves, ultraviolet light, the visible colors (ROYGBIV), infrared light, and X-rays). Light can be studied in two ways: wave optics, which models light as EM waves and exlpores concepts such as interference, intensity (brightness), diffraction, and polarization of light waves; and then there's ray optics, which models light as rays and focuses on concepts such as reflection, refraction (bending), and the formation of images through various media (lenses, mirrors, telescopes, magnfiying glasses, cameras, the human eye, and more).

My exam tomorrow covers sound waves, wave optics, and the diffraction of light. This class has proven to be pretty challenging thus far (the first exam was brutal!), and so I'm taking this exam very seriously. I just wanted to layout the course and the material it covers in order to convey to you just how cool physics is and how awesome it is to be a physics major! I mean come on, you can't tell me that this stuff doesn't sound soooooooo cool (albeit rather difficult to master).

So, it's about time I resume my studying for this exam. I'm sure that in my next post I'll be able to tell you how I did. In the meantime, I thought it would be interesting to break down the course and give everyone a slight taste of the things I spend so many hours wrestling with in my head!

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!