Wave Behaviour and Interference

Wave Basics

Here's a load of stuff about waves that you should know from GCSE

Amplitude = maximum displacement
Wavelength = distance between adjacent points which move in phase ( or simply distance from peak to peak )
Frequency = number of waves which pass a point every second

The wave equation

waves may be

LONGITUDINAL	TRANSVERSE
Oscillations are parallel to the direction the wave is traveling in	Oscillations are perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling in
e.g. P waves, sound	e.g. water waves, S waves, all electromagnetic waves

Waves can travel round corners!

Here we see plane wavefronts passing through a slit and diffracting.