Wave Features
What is the highest point of a transverse wave called?
Crest.
Which type of wave requires a medium to travel through?
Mechanical wave.
What are the two main types of wave models?
Transverse and longitudinal.
Which EM wave has the longest wavelength?
Radio waves
True or false: Waves transfer matter from one place to another.
False. Waves transfer energy without a net transfer of matter.
What is amplitude?
The maximum distance a particle moves from its resting position.
Give one example of a mechanical wave and one example of an electromagnetic wave.
Mechanical: sound/water/seismic. EM: light/radio/microwave etc.
Is sound in air a transverse or longitudinal wave?
Longitudinal.
Which type of EM radiation is commonly associated with heat and thermal imaging?
Infrared.
Which has the higher frequency: ultraviolet or infrared?
Ultraviolet.
What is wavelength?
The distance between two matching points on consecutive waves, such as crest to crest.
Why can light travel through space but sound cannot?
Light is an EM wave and does not require a medium. Sound is mechanical and requires particles.
In a transverse wave, which direction do particles vibrate compared with the direction the wave travels?
Perpendicular to the direction of wave travel.
Put these in order from lowest to highest frequency:
Visible light – Radio – Gamma – Microwave
Answer: Radio → Microwave → Visible light → Gamma.
A floating cork moves up and down as a water wave passes. Why doesn't the cork travel across the entire container with the wave?
The particles mainly oscillate around their resting positions while the wave transfers energy through the water.
A wave produces 30 waves in 5 seconds. What is its frequency?
Answer: 6 Hz.
Why can't astronauts outside a spacecraft hear each other shouting directly?
Space is essentially a vacuum, so there are no particles to transfer the sound wave.
What are the areas called where particles are close together and spread apart in a longitudinal wave?
Compressions and rarefactions.
Which EM wave is commonly used to image broken bones, and why?
X-rays, because they penetrate soft tissue more easily than dense bone, producing contrast in an image.
A wave's frequency increases while its speed stays constant. What happens to its wavelength?
ts wavelength decreases. Frequency and wavelength are inversely related when wave speed remains constant.
A wave travels at 40 m/s and has a frequency of 10 Hz. Calculate its wavelength.
Answer: 4 m (λ = v ÷ f = 40 ÷ 10).
Compare how sound and light transfer energy.
Both transfer energy without a net transfer of matter. Sound transfers energy through vibrating particles in a medium, whereas light is an EM wave and does not require a medium.
Explain the difference between a transverse and longitudinal wave using the movement of particles.
In transverse waves, particles vibrate perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer. In longitudinal waves, particles vibrate parallel to the direction of energy transfer.
Compare radio waves and gamma rays in terms of frequency, wavelength and energy.
Radio waves have low frequency, long wavelength and low energy. Gamma rays have high frequency, short wavelength and high energy.
A wave travels at 300 m/s with a frequency of 50 Hz. Calculate its wavelength. If its frequency doubles while speed stays constant, what happens to its wavelength?
λ = 300 ÷ 50 = 6 m. If frequency doubles, wavelength halves to 3 m.