- #1
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My textbook's explanation doesn't do it for me, so I have to ask here.
According to the textbook: "A phasor is an abstract vector whose y-component represents the value of a wave disturbance. The vector's magnitude equals the amplitude of the wave, and the angle it makes with the y-axis, measured counterclockwies, is the wave phase."
What I don't get is that the amplitude of the wave is fixed. So according to this definition, the magnitude (length) of the phasor should change as the angle changes, and its length should be 0 when the angle with the y-axis is 0. But the animation on this page shows a constant length for the phasor:
http://www.physics.udel.edu/~watson/phys208/phasor-slow.html
According to the textbook: "A phasor is an abstract vector whose y-component represents the value of a wave disturbance. The vector's magnitude equals the amplitude of the wave, and the angle it makes with the y-axis, measured counterclockwies, is the wave phase."
What I don't get is that the amplitude of the wave is fixed. So according to this definition, the magnitude (length) of the phasor should change as the angle changes, and its length should be 0 when the angle with the y-axis is 0. But the animation on this page shows a constant length for the phasor:
http://www.physics.udel.edu/~watson/phys208/phasor-slow.html