Doppler effect
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
doppler effect is a change in frequency and wavelength of a wave. It is caused by the change in distance between the thing creating the wave and whatever is measuring, seeing or hearing the wave.
[edit] Effects of changes in distance
As the distance gets smaller, the wavelength gets shorter and the frequency gets higher.
- For light, this causes a shift in color towards the blue end of the spectrum.
- For sound, this causes the sound to become higher in pitch
As the distance get longer the frequency gets lower and the wavelength gets longer.
- For light, this causes a shift towards the red end of the spectrum.
- For sound, this causes the sound to become lower in pitch.