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  4. When a wave is reflected normally from a rigid boundary, the reflected wave suffers a phase change of (assuming no absorption)

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Q. When a wave is reflected normally from a rigid boundary, the reflected wave suffers a phase change of (assuming no absorption)

Waves

Solution:

When a wave is incident normally on a rigid boundary, then assuming there is no absorption of energy by the boundary, the reflected wave has the same shape as the incident wave but it suffers a phase change of $\pi$ or $180^{\circ}$ on reflection. This is because the boundary is rigid and the disturbance must have zero displacement at all times at the boundary.