Such phenomena as vibrations and waves are one of the most common in nature, both living and inorganic. Oscillatory processes include those in which some of the exposed states of a particular system are periodically repeated. From school, everyone knows about experiments with a swinging pendulum - this is an example of the simplest oscillatory process.
More complex, but from this no less common phenomenon can be considered as waves. Their nature is very diverse, and we can observe this by the example of the action of many phenomena surrounding us. The most obvious, so to speak, is light, its distribution in various media - air, water, vacuum, chemical mixtures.
To understand how oscillations and waves are interconnected is quite simple. Imagine a certain oscillatory system, the same pendulum in an oscillating state, and then move it, without stopping the oscillatory process, to another place, and you will get a wave phenomenon. In a word, a wave can be called a process in which oscillations move from one place to another.
The difference in the nature of oscillations from waves can also be traced by the example of their mathematical reflection. Oscillations and waves whose formulas are different from each other are expressed in this way.
Oscillations in the simplest form are characterized by indicators of the number of oscillations, their frequency and time of one oscillatory cycle. The formula for the connection of these parameters has the following form: f = 1 / T, where n is the number of oscillations, T is the period of time for which the oscillatory process takes place. If necessary, a more detailed description of vibrational phenomena uses additional parameters. So, for example, if we consider oscillations of a cyclic type, we will need an indicator: phase (j) - a value that shows how much of the oscillation has already occurred from the beginning of the whole process, cyclic frequency (w), amplitude (A), showing the maximum deviation systems from the initial state. The formula of this harmonic process then takes the form: f = A sin j, or A = f / sin j.
Considering that the displacement value is the main factor in the difference between honey wave and oscillation, in its simplest form the wave phenomenon can be reflected by the formula of the form: S = A · sin ω x (t - x / v), where S is the wave displacement value, v is the displacement (wave velocity), ω is the angular frequency.
In the sciences that study vibrational-wave processes, it is customary to separately consider mechanical waves and vibrations and electromagnetic. This is due to the fact that electromagnetic waves propagate in special media and are characterized by the fact that during propagation they transfer the energy of the vibrational impulse without transferring the substance (system) itself, which performs this vibration. First of all, the most diverse fields can be an example here: electric, electromagnetic, radio waves, radiation of various types.
As was said, oscillations and waves in theory are considered separately, but this does not at all mean their isolation in nature and in the technologies created by man. The most striking example here can be the use of vibrational-wave processes in radar. The emitting station sends a wave oscillatory signal with a given frequency to an object that moves at a certain point in time. The wave reaches this object at another moment in time, but is reflected and arrives at the receiving station (module) - at the third. That is, between the sending of the wave and its reception, a certain time interval is formed that characterizes the movement of the object in space. Knowing the wave delay time and distance, it is possible to determine with great accuracy the speed of a moving object, as well as its location. Moreover, the shorter the wavelength, the more accurate the location will be.
In modern technologies, oscillations and waves are increasingly used. The well-known computer processor is nothing but an oscillatory system, which contains several hundred million transistors that perform computational operations following the example of oscillatory ones in a binary number system . The speed of such oscillatory systems is extremely high and is measured in gigahertz. Any user can read such data by opening the “My Computer - System Properties” window.