This text considers waves the great unifying concept of physics. With minimal mathematics, it emphasizes the behavior common to specific phenomena—earthquake waves studied by seismologists; waves and ripples on oceans, lakes, and ponds; waves of sound that travel through the air; mechanical waves in stretched strings and in quartz crystals that can be used to control the frequency of radio transmitters; electromagnetic waves that constitute light, and that are radiated by radio transmitters and received by radio receivers; and the waves of probability employed in quantum mechanics to predict the behavior of electrons, atoms, and complex substances.
Starting with a look at the strength and power of sinusoidal waves, author John R. Pierce explores wave media and modes, phase velocity and group velocity, vector and complex representation, energy and momentum, coupled modes and coupling between modes, polarization, diffraction, and radiation. References and an index appear at the end of the book.