General Wave Info
Wave Characteristics
Sound
Light
All Extra
100
What is a periodic disturbance that transfers energy?
a wave
100
What is the highest point of a wave?
crest
100
What type of wave are sound waves?
longitudinal (mechanical)
100
What type of waves are light waves?
electromagnetic
100

What is a rarefaction?

The parts where the coils or particles are spread out in a longitudinal or compressional wave

200
What is the physical environment that waves occur in?
medium
200
What is the lowest point of a wave?
trough
200
What is the measure of how high or how low a wave sounds?
pitch
200
What is the bending of a light wave as it passes from one medium into a different medium?
refraction
200
What is the speed that waves travel at?
frequency
300
What are waves the require a medium (such as sound)?
mechanical waves
300
What is the distance from a point on one wave to the same point on the next wave?
wavelength
300
What determines how loud or soft a sound is?
amplitude
300
What electromagnetic waves have the highest frequency?
gamma rays
300
What determines what color of visible light we see?
the frequency of the wave
400
What are waves where the particles move perpendicular to the direction of motion?
transverse waves
400
What is the distance (how high or how low) particles move from the baseline of the wave?
amplitude
400
What determines the pitch of a sound?
the frequency of the wave
400

The bouncing back of an object or a wave when it hits a surface through which it cannot pass is known as

reflection.

400

What is Hertz?

the unit of measurement for frequency

500
What is the medium for seismic waves?
earth/dirt
500
What is the time it takes for a wave to complete one cycle?
period
500

What is the doppler effect?

The change in frequency of a wave as its source moves in relation to an observer

500

The bending of waves as they move around a barrier or pass through an opening is known as

diffraction.

500

Electromagnetic waves can travel in a medium or in a _____?

Vacuum.

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