Physics - General Properties of Waves

Question 1

What are transverse waves?

Answer 1

Waves that oscillate perpendicular (right angles) to the direction of energy transfer and do not require a medium to travel in. Vibrations are up and down or side to side>

Question 2

What are longitudinal waves?

Answer 2

Waves that oscillate parallel to the direction of the medium and need a medium to travel in. Vibrations are compression and rarefractions.

Question 3

What is the amplitude of a wave?

Answer 3

The height of a wave. The bigger the amplitude, the more energy the waves carry.

Question 4

What is the wavelength of a wave?

Answer 4

The distance from one wave crest to the next wave crest.

Question 5

What is refraction?

Answer 5

Refraction is the change in the direction of a wave when a change of speed occurs, moving from one medium to another

Question 6

Explain refraction in a glass block

Answer 6

When light wave slows down, they change direction and bend towards the normal (skows down = bend towards normal)

light now passes through the glass block at a slower speed.

When waves pass through the block and back into the air, the speed of the wave changes, causing it to bend away from the normal.

Question 7

What is reflection?

Answer 7

When a wave is transmitted or reflected off the surface of a material without being absorbed.

Question 8

What is diffraction?

Answer 8

The spreading of waves when they pass through a gap or move past an obstacle without changing their speed, frequency, and wavelength.
narrower gap = more diffraction