wave front

wave front
a surface, real or imaginary, that is the locus of all adjacent points at which the phase of oscillation is the same.
[1865-70]

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Imaginary surface that represents corresponding points of waves vibrating in unison.

As identical waves from the same source travel through a homogeneous medium, corresponding crests and troughs are in phase at any instant; that is, they have completed the same fraction of their periodic motion. Any surface drawn through all points of the same phase constitutes a wave front.

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      imaginary surface representing corresponding points of a wave that vibrate in unison. When identical waves having a common origin travel through a homogeneous medium, the corresponding crests and troughs at any instant are in phase; i.e., they have completed identical fractions of their cyclic motion, and any surface drawn through all the points of the same phase will constitute a wave front.

 The Figure—> shows a spherical wave front (ws) for a sound wave spreading out from a point source and a plane wave front (wp) for a parallel beam of light, such as that emitted from a laser. Wave fronts for longitudinal and transverse waves may be surfaces of any configuration depending on the source, the medium, and the obstructions encountered. See also Huygens' principle.
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wave front — Wave Wave, n. [From {Wave}, v.; not the same word as OE. wawe, waghe, a wave, which is akin to E. wag to move. [root]138. See {Wave}, v. i.] [1913 Webster] 1. An advancing ridge or swell on the surface of a liquid, as of the sea, resulting from… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wave front — wave′ front n. phs a surface of a propagating wave, made up of all points at which the phase of oscillation is the same • Etymology: 1865–70 …   From formal English to slang

  • wave front — n. Physics a surface, at right angles to a propagated disturbance, that passes at any given moment through those parts of the wave motion that are in the same phase and are moving in the same direction …   English World dictionary

  • wave front — n a surface composed at any instant of all the points just reached by a vibrational disturbance in its propagation through a medium …   Medical dictionary

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