Re: Stiffness waves (was SLINKY)

[Ludwik Kowalski <KowalskiL@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>]

"John S. Denker" wrote:

> I'm not sure what "introductory" means. Can you be more specific: Ninth
> graders? Twelfth graders? College freshman physics majors who presumably
> had at least a year of physics in high school?

The first physics course at the university would be a case. It is already
overloaded with topics. The stiffness waves can wait for a more advanced
course.

> In particular, it's bad luck to speak of "the" wave equation. There's lots
> of wave equations.

Probably because many quite different physical phenomena are called
waves. Can somebody bring an acceptable general definition of a wave
for classical physics? My impression was (up to now) that all waves
(by definition ?) must satisfy the familiar second order derivative equation.
At least that is what I teach: wave is a moving disturbance (shape for
transverse waves). Waves of probability do not belong to classical physics.
Ludwik Kowalski