Absorption occurs when the wave is neither transferred through a medium (transmission, refraction, or diffraction), or bounced back from it (reflection or scattering).
⌾ When a wave hits an object, it causes the object’s particles to vibrate.
⌾ The more the object’s particles move and vibrate, the hotter it becomes.
⌾ This heat is then emitted from the object as thermal energy.
Diffraction is the bending and spreading of waves around an obstacle or through an aperture.
around an obstacle vs
Interference occurs when two waves travelling in different directions meet. They combine their energies and form interference patterns. This can result in regions of:
⌾ Constructive interference: the waves in phase will combine together and the resulting wave will be larger than either of the initial waves.
⌾ Destructive interference: waves are out of phase and either cancel eachother out or result in a smaller wave.
interference
diffraction