> So I have a small question for the POV-Ray memetic search engine: How much 
> energy does a wave have?

What sort of wave?

> I actually can't figure this one out. Presumably the energy of a wave is a 
> function of its amplitude, but I have a feeling frequency is involved as 
> well. (But I'm not sure in which polarity.)

The energy of a photon is easy to look up, and depends only on the 
wavelength (lower wavelength = more energy).  Obviously then you can figure 
out how many photons are required for a certain power level, and then how 
much time is needed to transfer a given amount of energy.

In electric circuits you can figure out instantaneous power flow by using 
P=IV.  Then you can integrate this power over time to get energy.  For 
example a sine wave has a known result, because it is so common in AC 
circuits, that is where RMS voltage/current comes from.

For water waves, I would imagine you need to look at the potential energy of 
the water as it moves up and down, look up Wave Energy on wikipedia - it has 
some formulas and example calculations.

Post a reply to this message