Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Paper 2 Section A 2 Solution 2026-10-18
Assume a massless junction and common tension . The characteristic impedance of a stretched string is , where is its linear mass density. The displacement reflection coefficient is , so the reflected fraction of power isSet . The positive solutions are , which are reciprocals. Thus the string density ratio for prescribed reflected power isThe impedance ratio is about , rather than the required density ratio. Reversing which string is on the incident side changes the reflected displacement sign but not the reflected power fraction.