This
level-5 vital article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||
|
Comments
Edits
The wave vector is a vector representation of a wave.
The wave vector is most useful for generalizing the equation of a single wave into a description of a family of waves. As long as the family of waves all travel in the same direction and with the same wavelength, a single wave vector is valid for the entire family. The most common case of a family of waves that meets these requirements is the plane wave, in which the family of waves is also coherent, i.e. all the waves have the same phase.
That last step where it equals zero, is a result of the fact that, for light, k=ω/c
with
That last step where it equals zero, is a result of the fact that, for light, k0=k0=ω/c
I sorted out the disambiguation and re-directed it here. LOTRrules ( talk) 20:51, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
I don't understand the point of the newly added "solid-state physics definition". It looks the same as the physics definition to me. Dicklyon ( talk) 05:07, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I'm confused, that the article says the direction of propagation and the energy flow are equivalent.
The article arguments then (it begins in the introduction) that the wave vector does not always indicate the propagation direction of the wave.
Until today I thought it's the opposite:
The wave vector indicate always the direction of the propagation, but the direction of the propagation and the energy flow (indicated by the Poynting vector) can be different.
Short version:
actually the article says: energyflow = direction of propagation ≠ wave vector
I think it should be: energyflow ≠ direction of propagation = wave vector
-- Verrain ( talk) 09:24, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
In the special relativity section, all have the K on the left, except four-momentum which has P on the left. Would it be more consistent to arrange with the K on the left? Gah4 ( talk) 18:12, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
I will be making several edits here to harmonize the symbols with wavenumber. Frowns will be replaced with tildas. Constant314 ( talk) 00:49, 8 May 2023 (UTC)
This
level-5 vital article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||
|
Comments
Edits
The wave vector is a vector representation of a wave.
The wave vector is most useful for generalizing the equation of a single wave into a description of a family of waves. As long as the family of waves all travel in the same direction and with the same wavelength, a single wave vector is valid for the entire family. The most common case of a family of waves that meets these requirements is the plane wave, in which the family of waves is also coherent, i.e. all the waves have the same phase.
That last step where it equals zero, is a result of the fact that, for light, k=ω/c
with
That last step where it equals zero, is a result of the fact that, for light, k0=k0=ω/c
I sorted out the disambiguation and re-directed it here. LOTRrules ( talk) 20:51, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
I don't understand the point of the newly added "solid-state physics definition". It looks the same as the physics definition to me. Dicklyon ( talk) 05:07, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I'm confused, that the article says the direction of propagation and the energy flow are equivalent.
The article arguments then (it begins in the introduction) that the wave vector does not always indicate the propagation direction of the wave.
Until today I thought it's the opposite:
The wave vector indicate always the direction of the propagation, but the direction of the propagation and the energy flow (indicated by the Poynting vector) can be different.
Short version:
actually the article says: energyflow = direction of propagation ≠ wave vector
I think it should be: energyflow ≠ direction of propagation = wave vector
-- Verrain ( talk) 09:24, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
In the special relativity section, all have the K on the left, except four-momentum which has P on the left. Would it be more consistent to arrange with the K on the left? Gah4 ( talk) 18:12, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
I will be making several edits here to harmonize the symbols with wavenumber. Frowns will be replaced with tildas. Constant314 ( talk) 00:49, 8 May 2023 (UTC)