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Phase difference

If you plot the 'y-axis' displacement of a rotating obejcet and the 'y-axis' displacement of a vibrating particle you get exactly the same displacement-time graph.

The time axis of that graph could be expressed as the angle (in radians or degrees). In physics the difference in phase of waveforms is usually expressed in radians - 2 radians being equivalent to a full cycle or 360o.

Click here to see an animation of the relationship between the rotating radius and the sinusoidal graph produced.

The phase of an oscillation or wave is the fraction of a complete cycle corresponding to an offset in the displacement from a specified reference point at time t = 0.

If you have two waveforms that are 'out of phase' with each other you can express this by reading the number of radians they differ from each other from the x-axis. This is usally expressed in terms of '' (usually as a fraction of '' ).