Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
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Waves transfer ENERGY from one place to another WITHOUT transferring MATTER.
They do this by causing the PARTICLES in a MEDIUM (a substance) to OSCILLATE.
For Example:
When you drop a stone into a still pond, you can see ripples forming in concentric circles moving outward from the point of impact.
The water molecules themselves only move UP AND DOWN, creating the ripples.
They do not move outward from the center; the molecules roughly remain in the same place.
If the water itself was travelling with the wave, anything floating on the surface, like a leaf or a piece of paper, would move outward too.
However, we observe that the floating objects only bob up and down, which indicates that the ENERGY moves through the water, NOT the water itself.
Consider a loudspeaker playing music. The sound you hear is the result of waves travelling from the speaker to your ears.
The air molecules VIBRATE BACK AND FORTH as the sound wave passes but do NOT travel from the speaker to you.
If the air traveled with the sound, you would feel a constant wind from the speaker when it was producing sound, which we do not.
Additionally, if we use smoke or a light object like a feather in front of a speaker, we can see that while the smoke or feather may flutter due to the vibrations, they do NOT move towards us with the sound.
These are waves where the OSCILLATIONS are PERPENDICULAR to the direction of ENERGY TRANSFER.
Examples of transverse waves include:
These are waves where the OSCILLATIONS are PARALLEL to the direction of ENERGY TRANSFER.
Examples of transverse waves include:
Waves transfer ENERGY from one place to another WITHOUT transferring MATTER.
They do this by causing the PARTICLES in a MEDIUM (a substance) to OSCILLATE.
For Example:
When you drop a stone into a still pond, you can see ripples forming in concentric circles moving outward from the point of impact.
The water molecules themselves only move UP AND DOWN, creating the ripples.
They do not move outward from the center; the molecules roughly remain in the same place.
If the water itself was travelling with the wave, anything floating on the surface, like a leaf or a piece of paper, would move outward too.
However, we observe that the floating objects only bob up and down, which indicates that the ENERGY moves through the water, NOT the water itself.
Consider a loudspeaker playing music. The sound you hear is the result of waves travelling from the speaker to your ears.
The air molecules VIBRATE BACK AND FORTH as the sound wave passes but do NOT travel from the speaker to you.
If the air traveled with the sound, you would feel a constant wind from the speaker when it was producing sound, which we do not.
Additionally, if we use smoke or a light object like a feather in front of a speaker, we can see that while the smoke or feather may flutter due to the vibrations, they do NOT move towards us with the sound.
These are waves where the OSCILLATIONS are PERPENDICULAR to the direction of ENERGY TRANSFER.
Examples of transverse waves include:
These are waves where the OSCILLATIONS are PARALLEL to the direction of ENERGY TRANSFER.
Examples of transverse waves include:
