- #1
Repetit
- 128
- 2
Hey!
Im quite confused about spherical waves. I mean, I understand that a spherical wave can be described by
[tex]
\Psi = \frac{1}{r} e^{i r},
[/tex]
because the intensity of such a wave decreases as [tex]1/r^2[/tex]. The intensity of such a wave is given by [tex] I = 1/r^2 [/tex] which makes sense to me. But a spherical wave can also be described by
[tex]
\Psi = \frac{1}{r} \cos r,
[/tex]
which gives a much different behaviour of the intensity because the intensity of such a wave is [tex] 1/r^2 cos^2(r) [/tex]. If these two expressions both describe a spherical wave, how come they don't have the same intensity?
Im quite confused about spherical waves. I mean, I understand that a spherical wave can be described by
[tex]
\Psi = \frac{1}{r} e^{i r},
[/tex]
because the intensity of such a wave decreases as [tex]1/r^2[/tex]. The intensity of such a wave is given by [tex] I = 1/r^2 [/tex] which makes sense to me. But a spherical wave can also be described by
[tex]
\Psi = \frac{1}{r} \cos r,
[/tex]
which gives a much different behaviour of the intensity because the intensity of such a wave is [tex] 1/r^2 cos^2(r) [/tex]. If these two expressions both describe a spherical wave, how come they don't have the same intensity?