How does medium affect wavelength

The waves slow down as they enter the shallow water which causes the wavelengths to shorten. The density of a material affects the speed that a wave will be transmitted through it. In general, the denser the transparent material, the more slowly light travels through it. Glass is denser than air, so a light ray passing from air into glass slows down.

If the ray meets the boundary at an angle to the normal , it bends towards the normal. The reverse is also true. Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 8 months ago. Active 7 years, 1 month ago. Viewed k times. The frequency of it has to stay the same? Improve this question. I think ColinK could give a better and clearer explanation. Add a comment.

Active Oldest Votes. Frequency can't change Now, let's take a glass-air interface and pass light through it. Speed can change There doesn't seem to be any reason for the speed to change, as long as the energy associated with unit length of the wave decreases.

This is analogous to the pipe, where increase of speed required decrease of cross-section alternatively mass per unit length Why does it have to change? Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Manishearth Manishearth The laser beam emitted by the observatory epitomizes a ray, traveling in a straight line.

However, passing a pure-wavelength beam through vertical slits with a size close to the wavelength of the beam reveals the wave character of light, as the beam spreads out horizontally into a pattern of bright and dark regions caused by systematic constructive and destructive interference.

Rather than spreading out, a ray would continue traveling straight ahead after passing through slits. The most certain indication of a wave is interference. This wave characteristic is most prominent when the wave interacts with an object that is not large compared with the wavelength. Interference is observed for water waves, sound waves, light waves, and as we will see in Special Relativity for matter waves, such as electrons scattered from a crystal.

Figure 1. Light has wave characteristics in various media as well as in a vacuum. Finally, observe that the speed and the wavelength of the incident pulse are the same as the speed and the wavelength of the reflected pulse. Wave speed depends upon the properties of the medium; and if the reflected pulse and incident pulse are in the same medium, then they must have the same speed.

Comparisons can also be made between the characteristics of the transmitted pulse and those of the incident pulse. Once more there are several noteworthy characteristics. First, observe that the transmitted pulse is not inverted. In fact inversion only occurs for the reflected pulse if it occurs at all.

Second, observe that the transmitted pulse has a smaller speed and a smaller wavelength than the incident pulse. This is always the case for boundary situations in which a pulse in a less dense medium reflects off the boundary with a more dense medium. Since wave speeds and wavelengths in strings are always greatest in a least dense medium, it would be expected that there is a decrease in wave speed and wavelength as the pulse crosses the boundary.