What is "wavelength"

also wave-length, 1850, "distance between peaks of a wave," from wave (n.) + length. Originally of spectra; radio sense is attested by 1925. Figurative sense of "mental harmony" is recorded from 1927, on analogy of radio waves.

n. The length of a single cycle of a wave, as measured by the distance between one peak or trough of a wave and the next; it is often designated in physics as '''λ''', and corresponds to the velocity of the wave divided by its frequency.

1. n. the distance (measured in the direction of propagation) between two points in the same phase in consecutive cycles of a wave

2. a shared orientation leading to mutual understanding; "they are on the same wavelength"

In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats, and the inverse of the spatial frequency. It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings and is a characteristic of both traveling waves and standing waves, as well as other spatial wave patterns. Wavelength is commonly designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). The concept can also be applied to periodic waves of non-sinusoidal shape. 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.

Assuming a sinusoidal wave moving at a fixed wave speed, wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency of the wave: waves with higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and lower frequencies have longer wavelengths.

Wavelength depends on the medium (for example, vacuum, air, or water) that a wave travels through.

Examples of wave-like phenomena are sound waves, light, and water waves. A sound wave is a variation in air pressure, while in light and other electromagnetic radiation the strength of the electric and the magnetic field vary. Water waves are variations in the height of a body of water. In a crystal lattice vibration, atomic positions vary.

Wavelength is a measure of the distance between repetitions of a shape feature such as peaks, valleys, or zero-crossings, not a measure of how far any given particle moves. For example, in sinusoidal waves over deep water a particle near the water's surface moves in a circle of the same diameter as the wave height, unrelated to wavelength. The range of wavelengths or frequencies for wave phenomena is called a spectrum. The name originated with the visible light spectrum but now can be applied to the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as to a sound spectrum or vibration spectrum.

Wavelength is a 1983 low-budget, independent science fiction film written and directed by Mike Gray and starring Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie, and Keenan Wynn.

The story involves a young couple who discover childlike aliens being held by the U.S. government for experimentation in an underground bunker.

The film is set in the Hollywood Hills and the Mojave Desert and features a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

Wavelength, the tenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, was released in the spring of 1978. The album has a different musical sound than his previous albums, leaning towards a pop sound with prominent electric guitars and synthesizers. Wavelength was Morrison's best selling album at the time of the original release. Mick Glossop, Bobby Tench and Peter Bardens were given credit for special assistance in production.

On 29 January 2008 a remastered version of the album was released. It contained two bonus tracks " Wavelength" and "Kingdom Hall", taken from the promotional album Van Morrison Live at the Roxy (1979), recorded 26 November 1978.

Wavelength is a 45-minute film that made the reputation of Canadian experimental filmmaker and artist Michael Snow. Considered a landmark of avant-garde cinema, it was filmed over one week in December 1966 and edited in 1967, and is an example of what film theorist P. Adams Sitney describes as " structural film", calling Snow "the dean of structural filmmakers." Wavelength is often listed as one of the greatest underground, art house and Canadian films ever made. It was named #85 in the 2001 Village Voice critics' list of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century. The film has been designated and preserved as a masterwork by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada. In a 1969 review of the film published in Artforum, Manny Farber describes Wavelength as "a pure, tough 45 minutes that may become The Birth of a Nation in Underground films, is a straightforward document of a room in which a dozen businesses have lived and gone bankrupt. For all of the film's sophistication (and it is overpowering for its time-space-sound inventions) it is a singularly unpadded, uncomplicated, deadly realistic way to film three walls, a ceiling and a floor... it is probably the most rigorously composed movie in existence."

A wavelength is a property of a wave.

Wavelength may also refer to:

• de Broglie wavelength in quantum physics
• Wavelength (album), 1978 album by Van Morrison
• "Wavelength" (song), song on the album by Van Morrison
• Wavelength (1967 film), film by Michael Snow
• Wavelength (1983 film), film by Mike Gray
• Wavelength (soundtrack), soundtrack to the 1983 film by Tangerine Dream
• Wavelength (magazine), a worldwide surfing magazine
• Wavelength (music series), a Toronto-based live music series
• WaveLength Charity, a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom

Multiple publications exist under the name Wavelength Magazine. 'Wavelength' is a worldwide surfing magazine published by Cornwall & Devon Media, based in Truro, Cornwall. Another 'Wavelength Magazine' is a sea kayaking magazine published on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, with distribution throughout Canada and the United States and available free online. The Canadian magazine was founded in 1991 on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, and is now published in Nanaimo.

"Wavelength" is the title song from the 1978 album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. Released as a single in 1978, it climbed to number forty two in the US charts, and stayed in the Hot 100 for eleven weeks. According to Howard A. Dewitt, this "was the song which re-established Morrison's hit making abilities".

Wavelength (1984) is the fourth soundtrack album and twenty-first overall by the German band Tangerine Dream. It is the soundtrack for the film Wavelength starring Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie, and Keenan Wynn.