MATH35012, Wave Motion
Revision before you begin
As with most level 3/4 applied courses, this material makes heavy use of
vector calculus, linear PDEs and methods for ODEs. Before starting this
course you might wish to review:
Some very basic things that should be trivial at this level.
You do not need to have done any 'fluid mechanics' courses before.
Problem sheets
Material will be posted here as the course progresses.
These questions are optional, and a little harder.
Coursework
Coursework is due by 12noon on Wednesday April 17th (week 9). It is worth 20 percent of the final mark.
Results of the coursework test are available as a text file above. The marks are out of 20, and ordered by student ID number.
Solution sheets
Solutions to example sheets will be posted here as the course progresses.
Lecture material
Lecture material will be made available here as the course progresses.
| Chapter 1, Wave Kinematics |
| Chapter 2, Waves on Elastic Strings |
| Chapter 3, Water Waves |
| Chapter 4, Sound Waves |
Other support material/animations:
| Handout: 1D wave equation and Fourier series. |
| Examples of dispersive waves |
| Group velocity: Rayleigh's explanation |
| Group velocity: Wave packets |
Getting help with this course
Feel free to ask about any material during the weekly problems class. If you cannot resolve your problem in this way, feel free to discuss it with me at the end of a lecture, email me for an appointment, or come along to my office hour during the semester.
Sample examination paper
Note: This year the format of the paper has changed slightly. In previous years there was a section A (with 4 shorter questions, A1-A4) and a section B (with 2 longer questions, B5-B6). The new format presents this SAME content as 6 questions. The style and content of the questions will remain the same, and only the labelling has been altered to remove the section A/B format; that is, questions 1-4 will still be shorter in format whilst 5 and 6 will be longer.
For example, last year's paper in this changed format is here: 2012 paper in new format.
Past papers are available.
Examination feedback to students last year
Feedback on the most recent examination paper (May 2011) is available.
Student feedback from last year
Comment forms from academic year (2011-2012).
Using this material
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.