• In Lecs 12, 13, 14 you will learn wave vocabulary, much of which is used in common English as well as physics. Think of the meanings you currently understand of medium, wavespeed, transverse, longitudinal, frequency, period, wavelength, amplitude, harmonic, damping, superposition, constructive and destructive interference, standing wave, resonance, refraction, diffraction. These are most of the wave vocabulary words, and I think you'll see that they are familiar.
• What is information, in a physics sense? How is it conveyed?
• What do you think is the difference between a wave and a particle?
• Name five common kinds of waves. How do they differ from each other?

Revised September 25, 1997.