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Knowledge and Skills Statement

Science concepts. The student knows the characteristics and behavior of waves.

Taking advantage of wave behavior:

Wave interference may result in an increase or decrease in amplitude at the positions where waves overlap. Or the waves may cancel each other out where they meet and continue unchanged afterward. Noise-canceling headphones produce sound waves that are out of phase with ambient noise. When these opposite waves meet, they cancel each other out, making your environment quieter.

The Doppler effect causes wave frequency to increase or decrease inversely proportional to the speed with which the distance between the source and the observer is changing.  Radar uses the Doppler effect to identify nearby objects and determine their speed and direction of motion. Humans, dolphins, bats, and other animals use sonar (or echolocation) to navigate.

Light polarization causes wave oscillations to have the same orientation. Polarizing lenses allow only light that is vertically polarized to pass through.

the behavior of a wave as it moves around an obstacle or through narrow openings in which the waves appear to be deflected or spread out

a change in the frequency with which waves (as of sound or light) from a given source reach an observer when the source or the observer is in motion with respect to the other

a phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling along the same medium

a phenomenon caused by the wave nature of electromagnetic radiation; specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations of an electromagnetic wave

a phenomenon that occurs when a wave is bounced off the boundary of a new medium and not absorbed

a phenomenon that occurs when a wave changes direction due to the change in speed when it enters a new medium at an angle; the wave still moves in a straight line, but the angle changes

a single-frequency mode of vibration of a body or physical system in which the amplitude varies from place to place, is constantly zero at fixed points (nodes), and has maxima (antinodes) at the midpoints between nodes

when two or more waves overlap in space; the resultant disturbance is equal to the vector sum of the amplitudes of the individual disturbances

a disturbance or variation that transfers energy progressively from point to point with or without a medium, without transferring matter

Research

Mešić, Vanes, Erna Hajder, Knut Neumann, and Nataša Erceg. "Comparing Different Approaches to Visualizing Light Waves: An Experimental Study on Teaching Wave Optics." Physical Review Physics Education Research 12, no. 1 (2016): 010135. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.12.010135

Summary:  Research has shown that students have tremendous difficulties developing a qualitative understanding of wave optics, at all educational levels. In this study, the authors investigate how three different approaches to visualizing light waves affect students’ understanding of wave optics.