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A change in the direction of a wave when the wave finds an obstacle or an edge, such as an opening.
Ex: A beam of light from a flashlight is fairy straight. But in some circumstances, waves curve or bend when they reach the edge of an object. |
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A periodic disturbance in a solid, liquid, or gas as energy is transmitted through a medium.
Ex: Water waves, light waves, microwaves, radio waves, and sound waves. |
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A phenomenon that occurs when two objects naturally vibrate at the same frequency; the sound produced by one object causes the other object to vibrate.
Ex: Singing in the shower. |
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The maximum distance that the particles of a wave’s medium vibrate from their rest position.
Ex: Tying a rope to the back of a chair, if you shake the wave a little you will make a shallow wave, if you shake the rope hard, you will make a tall wave. |
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The number of waves produced in a given amount of time.
Ex: If you shake a rope, the number of waves you can make in 1 s depends on how quickly you move the rope. If you move the rope slowly, you can only make a small number of waves each second. If you move it quickly, you make a large number of waves. |
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The combination of two or more waves that result in a single wave.
Ex: The light reflected from a film of oil floating on water. |
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The bending of a wave as the wave passes between two substances in which the speed of the wave differs.
Ex: Putting a pencil half in a glass of water. It is refracted to make it look like it is in two pieces. |
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The speed at which a wave travels throughs a medium.
Ex: If the crest of an ocean wave moves a distance of 20 meters in 10 seconds, the the speed of the ocean wave is 2.0 m/s. |
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Form at or near the boundary between two media, a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave can combine to form a surface wave; look like transverse waves, but the particles of the mediums in a surface wave move in circles rather than up and down.
Ex: Ocean waves; a floating bottle shows the circular motion of particles in a surface wave. |
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The distance from any point on a wave to an identical point on the next wave.
Ex: The distance between the crest of two waves. |
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A wave in which the particles of the medium move perpendicularly to the direction the wave is traveling.
Ex: A wave moving on a rope. |
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A pattern of vibration that simulates a wave that is standing still.
Ex: When you move a rope at certain frequencies, you can create different standing waves. |
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A reflected sound wave.
Ex: The repeating of a sound created by footsteps in an empty marble hallway. |
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A physical environment in which phenomena occur.
Ex: Water waves, seismic waves, and waves traveling through a spring. |
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A wave in which that particles of the medium vibrate parallel to the direction of wave motion.
Ex: A spring and a sound wave. |
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Waves that DO need a medium.
Ex: An earthquake. |
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