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Waves
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Wave | Repeating disturbance or movement that transfers energy through matter or space |
Medium | The matter the waves travel through |
Transverse Wave | In this type of wave, matter in the medium moves back and forth at right angles to the direction that the wave travels; has crests and troughs |
Compressional Wave | In this type of wave, matter in the medium moves back and forth along the same direction that the wave travels. |
Crest | Alternating high points in a transverse wave |
Trough | Alternating low points in a transverse wave |
Rarefaction | Less-dense regions of a compressional wave |
wavelength | The distance between one point on a wave and the nearest point just like it. |
frequency | The number of wavelengths that pass a fixed point each second. |
period | Amount of time it takes one wavelength to pass a point. |
amplitude | Related to the energy transferred by a wave; The greated it is, the more energy the wave transfers. |
Refraction | The bending of a wave caused by a change in its speed as it moves from one medium to another |
Diffraction | Occurs when an object causes a wave to change direction and bend around it. |
interference | When two or more waves overlap and combine to form a new wave |
standing wave | A special type of wave pattern that forms when waves equal in wavelength and amplitude, but travel in opposite directions, continuously interfere with each other. |
resonance | The process by which an object is made to vibrate by absorbing energy at its natural frequencies |