Waves
What are waves?
Waves are disturbances that carry energy from one place to another.
What does a transverse wave look like?
A transverse wave looks like a series of up and down ripples (s-shapes).
What do longitudinal waves look like?
Longitudinal waves look like alternating bands of bunched-up particles and spread-out particles.
True or False: Surface waves are an example of light.
What is amplitude in mechanical waves?
Amplitude is how far a particle has moved in a medium from its resting position.
What are mechanical waves?
Mechanical waves are waves in which matter moves back and forth in repeating motions. In a mechanical wave, the disturbance is the motion of the particles of matter.
What is a transverse wave?
A transverse wave is a wave in which the particles move in a pattern perpendicular to the direction that the wave travels.
What path do the particles in a transverse wave move along?
The particles move along a path that is parallel to the direction that the wave travels.
In a surface wave, what direction do the particles move in?
The particles move in a circular motion, sometimes parallel and sometimes perpendicular to the direction that the wave travels in.
What does wavelength describe in a longitudinal wave?
Wavelength describes the distance between two consecutive compressions or rarefactions.
What is a medium?
A medium is the matter that a mechanical wave travels through.
What are the highest points on a transverse wave called? What are the lowest points on a transverse wave called?
The highest points on a transverse wave are called crests and the lowest points are called troughs.
What are the bunched-up particles in a longitudinal wave called? What are the spread-out particles called?
The bunched-up particles are called compressions and the spread-out particles are called rarefactions.
As you go down into the ocean, what happens to surface waves?
The particles start moving less and less, eventually becoming unaffected from the surface wave.
How are amplitude and wavelength related?
They are independent of each other, they are not related.
How are wave pulses and wave cycles different? How are they similar?
A wave pulse is a single disturbance that does not repeat, while a wave cycle is one complete motion of the repeating pattern in a wave. Wave cycles (periodic waves) generate patterns like crests and troughs.
Sound is an example of longitudinal waves. If you increase the amplitude of the sound wave, what happens?
It gets louder.
True or False: Earthquakes generate surface waves and these are the most destructive waves in an earthquake.
True!
How do you calculate the frequency of a wave?
How does changing the frequency of a longitudinal sound wave affect the sound?
Higher frequency means higher pitch (like a whistle blowing), while lower frequency means lower pitch (like a bass drum).