What are Waves (pgs. 341-347)
What are waves?
A Source of Energy
Energy Transfer
How Waves Transfer Energy
Mechanical Waves
Transverse Waves
Longitudinal Waves
Vibrations and Mechanical
Waves
Types of mechanical Waves
Electromagnetic Waves
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A wave is a disturbance that transfers energy from one place to another without transferring matter.
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Waves transfer energy away from the source of energy.
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Waves transfer energy, but they leave matter in the same place after they pass.
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Energy travels through water, from particle to particle, as a wave.
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A wave that can travel only through matter is a mechanical wave.
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Mechanical waves can travel through solids, liquids, and gases.
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They can’t travel through a vacuum.
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A material in which a wave travel is called a medium.
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Two types of mechanical waves are transverse waves & longitudinal waves.
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A transverse wave is a wave in which the disturbance is perpendicular to the direction the wave travels.
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The highest points on a transverse wave are crests.
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The lowest points on a transverse wave are troughs.
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A longitudinal wave makes the particles in a medium move parallel to the direction that the wave travels.
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The regions of a longitudinal wave where the particles in the medium are closest together are compressions.
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The regions of a longitudinal wave where the particles are farthest apart are rarefactions.
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Vibrating objects are the sources of energy that produce mechanical waves.
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All mechanical waves travel only in matter.
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An electromagnetic wave is a wave that can travel through empty space and through matter.