Mission WM5 Boundary Behavior of Waves

Mission WM5 includes questions that target your understanding of and ability to analyze the behavior of a wave that reaches the end of a medium . The mission consists of 40 questions organized into 10 Question Groups. You must answer one question from each Question Group to complete the mission. The learning outcomes for this mission are ...

• The student should be able to predict how alterations in the medium through which a wave is traveling will effect the properties of that wave.
• The student should be able to predict the orientation of the reflected pulse at the boundary between two media.

If you are not familiar with this topic, then you should first learn about the topic using our written Tutorial or our Video Tutorial:

• How can an incident pulse, transmitted pulse, and reflected pulse be distinguished from each other?
• When a pulse crosses a boundary into a different medium, how does the speed of a transmitted pulse compare to the speed of an incident pulse?
• When a pulse crosses a boundary into a different medium, how does the wavelength of a transmitted pulse compare to the wavelength of an incident pulse?
• When a pulse crosses a boundary into a different medium, how does the frequency of a transmitted pulse compare to the frequency of an incident pulse?
• Under what conditions will a reflected pulse (or wave) be inverted?

Boundary Behavior of Waves