Waves: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #590

by Mike Goldsmith

We live in a world of waves. The Earth shakes to its foundations, the seas and oceans tremble incessantly, sounds reverberate through land, sea, and air. Beneath the skin, our brains and bodies are awash with waves of their own, and the Universe is filled by a vast spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, of which visible light is the narrowest sliver. Casting the net even wider, there are mechanical waves, quantum wave phenomena, and the now clearly detected gravitational waves. Look closer and deeper and more kinds of waves appear, down to the most fundamental level of reality.

This Very Short Introduction looks at all the main kinds of wave, their sources, effects, and uses. Mike Goldsmith discusses how wave motion results in a range of phenomena, from reflection, diffraction, interference, and polarization in the case of light waves to beats and echoes for sound. All waves, however different, share many of the same features, and, as Goldsmith shows, for all their complexities many of their behaviours are fundamentally simple.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Dr. Mike Goldsmith studied the philosophy of time and space at Keele University, where he also obtained his PhD in astrophysics. He was formerly the head of Acoustics at the UK's National Physical Laboratory and is now an author of nonfiction books for children.

Reviews

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waves are some of the most fundamental physical phenomena. However, it took humanity long time to fully understand the nature of wave motion, and even longer to come up with an adequate mathematical formulation for it. To make things even more intriguing, with the advent of Quantum Mechanics, we have learned that all natural phenomena - particles, forces, even the space-time itself - have an irreducible wave nature.

This very short introduction takes the reader on the journey of exploring many different kinds of waves. The book opens with the brief introductory chapter on the basic equations of wave motion, and goes on to explore seven different kinds of waves - water waves, sound waves, seismic waves, biological waves, electromagnetic waves, quantum waves, gravitational waves. Each chapter is fairly self-contained, and can be read out of order. However, there is a certain natural progression that goes from the waves that we are the most intuitively familiar with, to those that we have only recently been able to detect.

The book is well written and informative. It is a good source of information for anyone looking ot learn about waves, especially at depth that goes beyond a standard encyclopedia article. However, each chapter is in its own right a huge field of study, and would be impossible to cover even the fraction of the most interesting aspects of it in a book of this size.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

„We live in a world of waves. The Earth shakes to its foundations, the seas and oceans tremble incessantly, sounds reverberate through land, sea, and air. Beneath the skin, our brains and bodies are awash with waves of their own, and the Universe is filled by a vast spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, of which light is the narrowest sliver.“

In the very short introduction to Waves Goldsmith delves into the wave theory as applied to a variety of phenomena. After an introductory chapter about waves in general, he goes into water waves, sound waves, seismic waves, biological waves, electromagnetic waves, quantum waves, and gravitational waves. What fascinated me was the range of different phenomena that all can be traced back to one word - waves. A very interesting and diverse read.

Especially interesting was the part where Goldsmith compared the human locomotion system - how humans walk - with a pendulum, leading to a unique resonance frequency for a certain length of legs, which defines a naturally most effective pace of walking for each pair of legs. That frequency also depends on the gravitational force. Therefore, on the moon astronauts walk naturally so very slowly that hopping is an easier and more effective means of locomotion.

[Bruce Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps you have changed your wardrobe, your hairstyle, had a tattoo or a piercing in order to 'change your image.' Far fewer seek a neuronal rearrangement. Most people regard tampering with brain chemistry with fear and horror.
This book offers a brain refold without possible psychedelic side effects. Here, in a nutshell, is the book's key idea: the universe comprises waves. That's it. This wave, known as me, is bringing other waves, known as you, this news. I'm waving at you.
Just as it doesn't take very much LSD to disassemble someone's 'identity,' this book in 126 pages, helps minds reconstruct mental models.

[Eleanor Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful review for my PhD, read this while on the plane. The last few chapters were interesting but didn’t pertain to me so I mostly flipped through, but the beginning and part of seismic waves were informative.