barrier, the wave is reflected off the barrier at the angle it hits at, and is reflected. Every wave part is reflected at a different angle, and every reflected wave will meet at a point called the focal point, and then will continue on. This is shown best in the diagram on the next page. This probably occurs because the waves bounce of at a angle and then they will all meet at some point, called the focal point. Reflection is the rebounding of a wave after coming in contact with a barrierThe second type of wave phenomena that we will look at is refraction. Refraction is the bending of a wave as it passes obliquely from one medium to another. This simply means, what happens when a wave passes to a deeper area to a shallow area. When this happens, the frequency, the amplitude, and the wavelength stay the same. However, the velocity slows down, and the direction changes. This happens because all parts of the wave strike the shallower water at different times. This causes the wave to slow down at different times, and the slowed down part of the wave changes direction a little because of the angle that it hits at. But because of the shallower water, the velocity really slows down because there is less room and water for the wave to work with and so it slows down. Refraction is the bending of a wave as it passes obliquely from one medium to another.The third type of wave phenomena that we will look at is diffraction. Diffraction is the spreading of a wave behind a barrier. To look at diffraction, we set up two barriers with a space in between in the ripple tank. When the waves hit the barriers, the waves would be rebounded back (a la reflection), but the part of the wave that passes through the space is the diffracted wave. This wave spreads out into larger and larger concentric circles behind the barrier. In terms of our observations, the velocity stays the same, and the frequency stays the same. The wavelength and the amplitude of the diff...
