UNIT 06: WAVES

IWaves is one of the high-yield chapters in MDCAT Physics, sitting within the 20% Physics allocation of your 36-question paper.

What this chapter covers:

• Motion of wave
• Progressive waves and their properties
• Characteristics of wave (medium, displacement, amplitude, period, compression, rarefaction, crest, trough, wavelength, velocity)
• Wave speed (v = fλ)
• Classification of progressive waves (transverse and longitudinal)
• Speed of sound and Newton’s formula
• Laplace’s correction
• Factors affecting speed of sound in air
• Superposition of waves
• Interference of sound waves
• Stationary waves and their graphical formation
• Node and antinode
• Stationary waves in a stretched string
• Stationary waves in organ pipes (vibrating air columns)
• Simple Harmonic Motion and its characteristics
• Circular motion and SHM (projection on the diameter of a circle)

This chapter blends conceptual definitions with derivation-heavy and calculation-based content, spanning wave terminology, the Newton-Laplace speed-of-sound derivation, interference and beats, stationary wave harmonics in strings and pipes, and the full mechanics of SHM including circular-motion projection, placing it across the easy-to-difficult range described in the PMDC split of 15% easy, 70% moderate, and 15% difficult. Mastery here means being equally comfortable naming and defining wave terms, working through multi-step derivations like Laplace’s correction, and solving numericals on strings, pipes, and oscillators.

Why this practice set helps:

• Covers every subtopic the PMDC curriculum identifies, plus the supporting concepts textbooks present alongside them
• Every question includes a full explanation of why the correct answer is right and why each other option is wrong
• Built to help you learn faster than passive reading, with nothing the exam may draw from left untouched

Work through this set attentively, and you build both the conceptual clarity and derivation fluency this chapter demands.