Wave Basics
The highest point of a wave is called the ______.
What is a crest?
This type of wave brings music to your car radio.
What are radio waves?
Waves with longer wavelengths have ______ energy.
What is less?
You’re talking to a friend on your cell phone. Which type of wave makes this possible?
What are radio waves?
Why can light travel through space but sound cannot?
Because light doesn’t need a medium, while sound does.
The lowest point of a wave is called the ______.
What is a trough?
Doctors use this type of wave to see inside your body.
What are X-rays?
Waves with shorter wavelengths have ______ energy.
What is more?
A police officer uses a radar gun to measure a car’s speed. Which wave is used?
What are microwaves?
Imagine two waves. Wave A has a very short wavelength. Wave B has a very long wavelength. Which has more energy?
What is wave A?
This measures how far the medium moves from its resting position when a wave passes.
What is amplitude?
This wave is why you can use a remote to change the TV channel.
What is infrared?
Which side of the electromagnetic spectrum has the most energy: left or right?
What is the right side?
You get a sunburn after a day at the beach. Which wave caused this?
What are ultraviolet rays?
Which two properties are different between waves in the electromagnetic spectrum?
What is wavelength and frequency?
Which property of a wave tells us how close together the crests are?
What is wavelength?
This is the only type of electromagnetic wave humans can see.
What is visible light?
Compare ultraviolet rays and infrared waves: Which has a higher frequency?
What is ultraviolet?
A doctor is treating cancer cells with very high-energy waves. Which wave is being used?
What are gamma rays?
If scientists discovered a new wave with a wavelength between ultraviolet and X-rays, what could you predict about its energy level?
It would have higher energy than UV but lower energy than X-rays.
You need a stopwatch to measure this wave property.
What is frequency?
These waves are so strong they can kill living cells, so doctors use them to fight cancer.
What are gamma rays?
Why are gamma rays more dangerous to humans than radio waves?
Because they have shorter wavelengths and higher energy, which can damage cells.
You use night-vision goggles to see in the dark. Which wave makes this possible?
What is infrared?
A student says, “The reason microwaves can cook food is because they have more energy than radio waves.” Is this correct? Explain.
Yes, it's correct – microwaves have shorter wavelengths and higher energy than radio waves, which allows them to heat water molecules in food.