Wolfram Researchscienceworld.wolfram.comOther Wolfram Sites
Search Site
Alphabetical Index
About this site
About this site
Astrophysics Electromagnetism Experimental Physics Fluid Mechanics History and Terminology Mechanics Modern Physics Optics States of Matter Thermodynamics Units and Dimensional Analysis Wave Motion About this site FAQ What's new Random entry Contribute Sign the guestbook Email ScienceWorld
Wave Motion > Wave Properties v



Group Velocity
    

The group velocity is the velocity with which energy propagates and is defined by

(1)

where is the angular frequency of a wave and k its wavenumber.

In terms of the real part Eric Weisstein's World of Math of the index of refraction,

(2)

where c is the speed of light and is the phase velocity,

(3)
  (4)
  (5)

Solving for then gives
(6)

Phase Velocity, Speed of Light




References

Brillouin, L. and Sommerfeld, A. Wave Propagation and Group Velocity. New York: Academic Press, 1960.







header
mathematica calccenter