# Frequency

Last updated
Frequency
A pendulum making 25 complete oscillations in 60 s, a frequency of 0.416 Hertz
Common symbols
f, ν
SI unit hertz (Hz)
Other units
In SI base units s −1
Derivations from
other quantities
• f = 1 / T
Dimension ${\displaystyle {\mathsf {T}}^{-1}}$

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. [1] It is also occasionally referred to as temporal frequency to emphasize the contrast to spatial frequency , and ordinary frequency to emphasize the contrast to angular frequency . Frequency is expressed in units of hertz (Hz) which is equivalent to one (event) per second. The corresponding period is the time duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency. [2] For example, if a heart beats at a frequency of 120 times a minute (2 hertz), its period, T—the time interval between beats—is half a second (60 seconds divided by 120 beats). Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and periodic phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio signals (sound), radio waves, and light.

## Definitions and units

For cyclical phenomena such as oscillations, waves, or for examples of simple harmonic motion, the term frequency is defined as the number of cycles or vibrations per unit of time. The conventional symbol for frequency is f; the Greek letter ${\displaystyle \nu }$ (nu) is also used. [3] The period${\displaystyle T}$ is the time taken to complete one cycle of an oscillation. [note 1] The relation between the frequency and the period is given by the equation: [5]

The term temporal frequency is used to emphasise that the frequency is characterised by the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time, and not unit distance.

The SI derived unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz), [5] named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1930. It was adopted by the CGPM (Conférence générale des poids et mesures) in 1960, officially replacing the previous name, "cycles per second" (cps). The SI unit for the period, as for all measurements of time, is the second. [6] A traditional unit of measure used with rotating mechanical devices is revolutions per minute, abbreviated r/min or rpm. 60 rpm is equivalent to one hertz. [7]

Wind-generated waves are described in terms of their period rather than frequency. [8]

## Period versus frequency

As a matter of convenience, longer and slower waves, such as ocean surface waves, tend to be described by wave period rather than frequency. Short and fast waves, like audio and radio, are usually described by their frequency instead of period. Some commonly used conversions are listed below:

 Frequency Period 1 mHz (10−3 Hz) 1 Hz (100 Hz) 1 kHz (103 Hz) 1 MHz (106 Hz) 1 GHz (109 Hz) 1 THz (1012 Hz) 1 ks (103 s) 1 s (100 s) 1 ms (10−3 s) 1 μs (10−6 s) 1 ns (10−9 s) 1 ps (10−12 s)
• Angular frequency, usually denoted by the Greek letter ω (omega), is defined as the rate of change of angular displacement (during rotation), θ (theta), or the rate of change of the phase of a sinusoidal waveform (notably in oscillations and waves), or as the rate of change of the argument to the sine function:
${\displaystyle y(t)=\sin \left(\theta (t)\right)=\sin(\omega t)=\sin(2\mathrm {\pi } ft)}$
Angular frequency is commonly measured in radians per second (rad/s) but, for discrete-time signals, can also be expressed as radians per sampling interval, which is a dimensionless quantity. Angular frequency (in rad/s) is larger than ordinary frequency (in Hz) by a factor of 2π.
• Spatial frequency is analogous to temporal frequency, but the time axis is replaced by one or more spatial displacement axes, e.g.:
${\displaystyle y(t)=\sin \left(\theta (t,x)\right)=\sin(\omega t+kx)}$
Wavenumber, k, is the spatial frequency analogue of angular temporal frequency and is measured in radians per metre. In the case of more than one spatial dimension, wavenumber is a vector quantity.

## In wave propagation

For periodic waves in nondispersive media (that is, media in which the wave speed is independent of frequency), frequency has an inverse relationship to the wavelength, λ (lambda). Even in dispersive media, the frequency f of a sinusoidal wave is equal to the phase velocity v of the wave divided by the wavelength λ of the wave:

${\displaystyle f={\frac {v}{\lambda }}.}$

In the special case of electromagnetic waves moving through a vacuum, then v = c, where c is the speed of light in a vacuum, and this expression becomes:

${\displaystyle f={\frac {c}{\lambda }}.}$

When monochromatic waves travel from one medium to another, their frequency remains the same—only their wavelength and speed change.

## Measurement

Measurement of frequency can be done in the following ways:

### Counting

Calculating the frequency of a repeating event is accomplished by counting the number of times that event occurs within a specific time period, then dividing the count by the length of the time period. For example, if 71 events occur within 15 seconds the frequency is:

${\displaystyle f={\frac {71}{15\,{\text{s}}}}\approx 4.73\,{\text{Hz}}}$

If the number of counts is not very large, it is more accurate to measure the time interval for a predetermined number of occurrences, rather than the number of occurrences within a specified time. [9] The latter method introduces a random error into the count of between zero and one count, so on average half a count. This is called gating error and causes an average error in the calculated frequency of ${\textstyle \Delta f={\frac {1}{2T_{\text{m}}}}}$, or a fractional error of ${\textstyle {\frac {\Delta f}{f}}={\frac {1}{2fT_{\text{m}}}}}$ where ${\displaystyle T_{\text{m}}}$ is the timing interval and ${\displaystyle f}$ is the measured frequency. This error decreases with frequency, so it is generally a problem at low frequencies where the number of counts N is small.

A resonant-reed frequency meter, an obsolete device used from about 1900 to the 1940s for measuring the frequency of alternating current. It consists of a strip of metal with reeds of graduated lengths, vibrated by an electromagnet. When the unknown frequency is applied to the electromagnet, the reed which is resonant at that frequency will vibrate with large amplitude, visible next to the scale.

### Stroboscope

An old method of measuring the frequency of rotating or vibrating objects is to use a stroboscope. This is an intense repetitively flashing light (strobe light) whose frequency can be adjusted with a calibrated timing circuit. The strobe light is pointed at the rotating object and the frequency adjusted up and down. When the frequency of the strobe equals the frequency of the rotating or vibrating object, the object completes one cycle of oscillation and returns to its original position between the flashes of light, so when illuminated by the strobe the object appears stationary. Then the frequency can be read from the calibrated readout on the stroboscope. A downside of this method is that an object rotating at an integer multiple of the strobing frequency will also appear stationary.

### Frequency counter

Higher frequencies are usually measured with a frequency counter. This is an electronic instrument which measures the frequency of an applied repetitive electronic signal and displays the result in hertz on a digital display. It uses digital logic to count the number of cycles during a time interval established by a precision quartz time base. Cyclic processes that are not electrical, such as the rotation rate of a shaft, mechanical vibrations, or sound waves, can be converted to a repetitive electronic signal by transducers and the signal applied to a frequency counter. As of 2018, frequency counters can cover the range up to about 100 GHz. This represents the limit of direct counting methods; frequencies above this must be measured by indirect methods.

### Heterodyne methods

Above the range of frequency counters, frequencies of electromagnetic signals are often measured indirectly utilizing heterodyning (frequency conversion). A reference signal of a known frequency near the unknown frequency is mixed with the unknown frequency in a nonlinear mixing device such as a diode. This creates a heterodyne or "beat" signal at the difference between the two frequencies. If the two signals are close together in frequency the heterodyne is low enough to be measured by a frequency counter. This process only measures the difference between the unknown frequency and the reference frequency. To reach higher frequencies, several stages of heterodyning can be used. Current research is extending this method to infrared and light frequencies (optical heterodyne detection).

## Examples

### Light

Visible light is an electromagnetic wave, consisting of oscillating electric and magnetic fields traveling through space. The frequency of the wave determines its color: 400 THz (4×1014 Hz) is red light, 800 THz (8×1014 Hz) is violet light, and between these (in the range 400–800 THz) are all the other colors of the visible spectrum. An electromagnetic wave with a frequency less than 4×1014 Hz will be invisible to the human eye; such waves are called infrared (IR) radiation. At even lower frequency, the wave is called a microwave, and at still lower frequencies it is called a radio wave. Likewise, an electromagnetic wave with a frequency higher than 8×1014 Hz will also be invisible to the human eye; such waves are called ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Even higher-frequency waves are called X-rays, and higher still are gamma rays.

All of these waves, from the lowest-frequency radio waves to the highest-frequency gamma rays, are fundamentally the same, and they are all called electromagnetic radiation. They all travel through a vacuum at the same speed (the speed of light), giving them wavelengths inversely proportional to their frequencies.

where c is the speed of light (c in a vacuum or less in other media), f is the frequency and λ is the wavelength.

In dispersive media, such as glass, the speed depends somewhat on frequency, so the wavelength is not quite inversely proportional to frequency.

### Sound

Sound propagates as mechanical vibration waves of pressure and displacement, in air or other substances. [10] In general, frequency components of a sound determine its "color", its timbre. When speaking about the frequency (in singular) of a sound, it means the property that most determines its pitch. [11]

The frequencies an ear can hear are limited to a specific range of frequencies. The audible frequency range for humans is typically given as being between about 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz (20 kHz), though the high frequency limit usually reduces with age. Other species have different hearing ranges. For example, some dog breeds can perceive vibrations up to 60,000 Hz. [12]

In many media, such as air, the speed of sound is approximately independent of frequency, so the wavelength of the sound waves (distance between repetitions) is approximately inversely proportional to frequency.

### Line current

In Europe, Africa, Australia, southern South America, most of Asia, and Russia, the frequency of the alternating current in household electrical outlets is 50 Hz (close to the tone G), whereas in North America and northern South America, the frequency of the alternating current in household electrical outlets is 60 Hz (between the tones B♭ and B; that is, a minor third above the European frequency). The frequency of the 'hum' in an audio recording can show where the recording was made, in countries using a European, or an American, grid frequency.

## Aperiodic frequency

Aperiodic frequency is the rate of incidence or occurrence of non-cyclic phenomena, including random processes such as radioactive decay. It is expressed in units of measurement of reciprocal seconds (s−1) [13] or, in the case of radioactivity, becquerels. [14]

It is defined as a ratio, f = N/T, involving the number of times an event happened (N) during a given time duration (T); it is a physical quantity of type temporal rate.

## Notes

1. The term spatial period, sometimes used in place of wavelength, is a different quantity. [4]

## Related Research Articles

In physics, the cross section is a measure of the probability that a specific process will take place when some kind of radiant excitation intersects a localized phenomenon. For example, the Rutherford cross-section is a measure of probability that an alpha particle will be deflected by a given angle during a collision with an atomic nucleus. Cross section is typically denoted σ (sigma) and is expressed in units of area, more specifically in barns. In a way, it can be thought of as the size of the object that the excitation must hit in order for the process to occur, but more exactly, it is a parameter of a stochastic process.

The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the fundamental, is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. In terms of a superposition of sinusoids, the fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency sinusoidal in the sum of harmonically related frequencies, or the frequency of the difference between adjacent frequencies. In some contexts, the fundamental is usually abbreviated as f0, indicating the lowest frequency counting from zero. In other contexts, it is more common to abbreviate it as f1, the first harmonic.

The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI) and is defined as one cycle per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one hertz is the reciprocal of one second. It is named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894), the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertz are commonly expressed in multiples: kilohertz (103 Hz, kHz), megahertz (106 Hz, MHz), gigahertz (109 Hz, GHz), terahertz (1012 Hz, THz).

In optics, the refractive index of a material is a dimensionless number that describes how fast light travels through the material. It is defined as

In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a characteristic of both traveling waves and standing waves, as well as other spatial wave patterns. The inverse of the wavelength is called the spatial frequency. Wavelength is commonly designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). The term wavelength is also sometimes applied to modulated waves, and to the sinusoidal envelopes of modulated waves or waves formed by interference of several sinusoids.

In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance of one or more quantities, sometimes as described by a wave equation. In physical waves, at least two field quantities in the wave medium are involved. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (resting) value at some frequency. When the entire waveform moves in one direction it is said to be a traveling wave; by contrast, a pair of superimposed periodic waves traveling in opposite directions makes a standing wave. In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibration has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero.

The propagation constant of a sinusoidal electromagnetic wave is a measure of the change undergone by the amplitude and phase of the wave as it propagates in a given direction. The quantity being measured can be the voltage, the current in a circuit, or a field vector such as electric field strength or flux density. The propagation constant itself measures the change per unit length, but it is otherwise dimensionless. In the context of two-port networks and their cascades, propagation constant measures the change undergone by the source quantity as it propagates from one port to the next.

In the physical sciences, the wavenumber is the spatial frequency of a wave, measured in cycles per unit distance or radians per unit distance. It is analogous to temporal frequency, which is defined as the number of wave cycles per unit time or radians per unit time.

In optics, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency. Media having this common property may be termed dispersive media. Sometimes the term chromatic dispersion is used for specificity. Although the term is used in the field of optics to describe light and other electromagnetic waves, dispersion in the same sense can apply to any sort of wave motion such as acoustic dispersion in the case of sound and seismic waves, in gravity waves, and for telecommunication signals along transmission lines or optical fiber. Physically, dispersion translates in a loss of kinetic energy through absorption.

Angular resolution describes the ability of any image-forming device such as an optical or radio telescope, a microscope, a camera, or an eye, to distinguish small details of an object, thereby making it a major determinant of image resolution. It is used in optics applied to light waves, in antenna theory applied to radio waves, and in acoustics applied to sound waves. The colloquial use of the term "resolution" often causes confusion; when a camera is said to have high resolution because of its good image quality, it actually has a low angular resolution. The closely related term spatial resolution refers to the precision of a measurement with respect to space, which is directly connected to angular resolution in imaging instruments. The Rayleigh criterion shows that the minimum angular spread that can be resolved by an image forming system is limited by diffraction to the ratio of the wavelength of the waves to the aperture width. For this reason, high resolution imaging systems such as astronomical telescopes, long distance telephoto camera lenses and radio telescopes have large apertures.

Fourier optics is the study of classical optics using Fourier transforms (FTs), in which the waveform being considered is regarded as made up of a combination, or superposition, of plane waves. It has some parallels to the Huygens–Fresnel principle, in which the wavefront is regarded as being made up of a combination of spherical wavefronts whose sum is the wavefront being studied. A key difference is that Fourier optics considers the plane waves to be natural modes of the propagation medium, as opposed to Huygens–Fresnel, where the spherical waves originate in the physical medium.

In physics, a wave vector is a vector which helps describe a wave. Like any vector, it has a magnitude and direction, both of which are important. Its magnitude is either the wavenumber or angular wavenumber of the wave, and its direction is ordinarily the direction of wave propagation.

In fluid dynamics, dispersion of water waves generally refers to frequency dispersion, which means that waves of different wavelengths travel at different phase speeds. Water waves, in this context, are waves propagating on the water surface, with gravity and surface tension as the restoring forces. As a result, water with a free surface is generally considered to be a dispersive medium.

An acousto-optic modulator (AOM), also called a Bragg cell or an acousto-optic deflector (AOD), uses the acousto-optic effect to diffract and shift the frequency of light using sound waves. They are used in lasers for Q-switching, telecommunications for signal modulation, and in spectroscopy for frequency control. A piezoelectric transducer is attached to a material such as glass. An oscillating electric signal drives the transducer to vibrate, which creates sound waves in the material. These can be thought of as moving periodic planes of expansion and compression that change the index of refraction. Incoming light scatters off the resulting periodic index modulation and interference occurs similar to Bragg diffraction. The interaction can be thought of as a three-wave mixing process resulting in Sum-frequency generation or Difference-frequency generation between phonons and photons.

Optical resolution describes the ability of an imaging system to resolve detail, in the object that is being imaged.

In mathematics, physics, and engineering, spatial frequency is a characteristic of any structure that is periodic across position in space. The spatial frequency is a measure of how often sinusoidal components of the structure repeat per unit of distance. The SI unit of spatial frequency is cycles per m. In image-processing applications, spatial frequency is often expressed in units of cycles per mm or equivalently line pairs per mm.

Antenna measurement techniques refers to the testing of antennas to ensure that the antenna meets specifications or simply to characterize it. Typical parameters of antennas are gain, bandwidth, radiation pattern, beamwidth, polarization, and impedance.

The Planck constant, or Planck's constant, is a fundamental physical constant denoted , and is of fundamental importance in quantum mechanics. A photon's energy is equal to its frequency multiplied by the Planck constant. Due to mass–energy equivalence, the Planck constant also relates mass to frequency.

## References

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2. "Definition of PERIOD" . Retrieved 3 October 2016.
3. Serway & Faughn 1989, p. 346.
4. Boreman, Glenn D. "Spatial Frequency". SPIE . Retrieved 22 January 2021.
5. Serway & Faughn 1989, p. 354.
6. "Resolution 12 of the 11th CGPM (1960)". BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures). Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
7. Davies 1997, p. 275.
8. Young 1999, p. 7.
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10. "Definition of SOUND" . Retrieved 3 October 2016.
11. Pilhofer, Michael (2007). Music Theory for Dummies. For Dummies. p. 97. ISBN   978-0-470-16794-6.
12. Condon, Tim (2003). Elert, Glenn (ed.). "Frequency range of dog hearing". The Physics Factbook. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
13. Lombardi, Michael A. (2007). "Fundamentals of Time and Frequency". In Bishop, Robert H. (ed.). Mechatronic Systems, Sensors, and Actuators: Fundamentals and Modeling. Austin: CRC Press. ISBN   9781420009002.
14. Bureau international des poids et mesures, Le Système international d'unités (SI) / The International System of Units (SI), 9th ed. (Sèvres: 2019), ISBN 978‑92‑822‑2272‑0, sub§2.3.4, Table 4.

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