Faculty of Science

Objectives

To give an understanding of the basic concepts of waves and optics with special emphasis on those aspects that are of interest in chemistry.

Contents

Mechanical oscillation: Simple harmonic motion, damped oscillations, forced oscillations, resonance, Elastic vibrations in a solid (or string), the differential wave equation; Waves: the wave pulse, the general wave equation, the plane wave, progressive and stationary waves, Waves in two and three dimensions, wave fronts, phase and group velocities, energy of a wave, Doppler effect (in sound only); Optics: electromagnetic nature of light, reflection at a plane surface refraction, total internal reflection, polarization, interference, diffraction diffusion, luminous flux, photometric quantities and units.