gömbhullámfront

A gömbhullámfront, or spherical wavefront, describes the shape of a wave propagating outwards from a point source in three dimensions. Imagine a pebble dropped into a still pond; the ripples spreading outwards are analogous to a spherical wavefront. At any given instant, all points on the surface of the wavefront are at the same phase of the wave, meaning they are experiencing the same part of the wave cycle, whether it's a crest, a trough, or somewhere in between.

As the wave propagates, the radius of the spherical wavefront increases, and its energy spreads over a larger and larger surface area. This inverse square law relationship means that the intensity of the wave decreases with the square of the distance from the source. For example, if you double the distance from a light source, the light intensity you perceive will be only one-fourth of what it was at the original distance.

Sound waves from a speaker, light from a bare bulb, and seismic waves originating from an earthquake's epicenter all approximate spherical wavefronts, especially at distances far from the source. While real-world sources may not be perfect point sources, and the medium through which the wave travels can introduce complexities like diffraction and reflection, the concept of a gömbhullámfront remains a fundamental model for understanding wave propagation in many physical phenomena.