What does wave refraction cause?
1 Answer
Generally, a change in both wavelength and velocity of the wave.
Explanation:
If we look at the wave equation we can get an algebraic understanding of it:
Another way of understanding this is to consider the crests as being lines of soldiers - an analogy I’ve use during many times. The soldiers are marching at an angle (say
Look at the diagram below (imagining the wave crests as the soldiers) and you’ll see that because velocity falls, the wavelength changes too (and the direction of travel.) That means frequency must remain constant -