Nature of Waves
A repeating disturbance that transfers energy
A wave
The highes point of a transverse wave.
Crest
The number of waves which pass a fixed point each second.
Frequency
A wave which strikes an object and then bounces off.
Reflection
The amount of energy that passes through a certain area in a specific amount of time.
Intensity
Matter through which a wave travels
Medium
The lowest point of a transverse wave.
Trough
The amount of time it takes one wavelegth to pass a point.
Period.
The bending of a wave caused by a change in speed as it travels from one medium to another.
Refraction
How high or how low a sound seems to be
Pitch
Waves which can only travel through matter.
Mechanical Waves
The area where the meduim is most dense in a longitudinal wave.
Compression
The measure of the size of the disturbance from a wave.
Amplitude
The bending of a wave around an object.
Diffraction
The sound of frequencies above the range of human hearing with frequencies above 20,000 Hz.
Ultrasound or Ultrasonic
Matter in the medium moves perpendicular to the direction of motion.
Transverse Waves
The less dense region of a longitudinal wave.
Rarefaction
The wave speed equation.
Wave speed equals frequency times wavelength
Waves which create a pattern of crests and troughs that do not seem to be moving.
Standing wave
A vibration whose frequency is a multiple of the fundamental frequency.
Overtone
In a longitudinal wave the medium moves in the ______________ direction the wave travels.
Same
The distance on a transverse wave from crest to crest or trough to trough or on a longitudinal wave from compression to compression or rarefaction to rarefaction.
Wavelength
Solve for frequency if the wave speed is 200 meters per second and the wavelength is 2 meters.
100 Hertz
Process by which an object is made to vibrate by absorbing energy at its natural frequencies.
Resonance
The difference between instruments which have the same pitch and loudness.
Sound Quality