jellyfixh t1_jbtvu8y wrote
Reply to comment by agabwagawa in When a wave travels goes from a higher impedance medium to a lower impedance medium, why would that cause a reflected wave? by agabwagawa
Waves are oscillatory motions. You can't have all the particles just leave and create a vacuum. So when the wave enters the lower impedance area there is low pressure in the high impedance area, and so particles must be drawn back in to balance it out forming a new reflected wave.
agabwagawa OP t1_jc0x978 wrote
Got it! So the reflected wave at an interface going from high to low impedance just has a lower intensity than it would if it hit gone from low to high, but the reflected wave is the same frequency as the incident.
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