Originally Posted by
Alan Blood
Rise time steepness is the second derivative. The third derivative is it's acceleration or jerkiness or perhaps pointiness. I think it also relates to a thermodynamics theory about energy transformation to pressure oscillation, aka acoustic energy. You might predict a pointy modulation will attenuate the wave faster than a smoother one. In square waves, I was told more pointiness generates higher harmonics than smudged corners, even where rise time steepness can be high in the latter.
If the RF propagates much faster than any child acoustic phenomena, can the latter form a plane wave front ? I don't think so. I apply the word discontiguous here ... With a g not an n. But I might be wrong ...
A spike can be even more pointy that a square form.