Wave Properties Test Flashcards
A disturbance that transfers energy from one place to another without transferring matter
Wave
A wave that can travel only through matter
Mechanical wave
A material in which a wave travels
Medium
A wave in which the disturbance is perpendicular to the direction the wave travels.
Transverse wave
A wave in which the disturbance is parallel to the direction the wave travels
Longitudinal wave
A longitudinal wave that can travel only through matter
Sound wave
The maximum extent of the repeating quantity from equilibrium.
Amplitude
How you perceive the energy of a sound wave.
Loudness
The amount of energy that passes through a square meter of space in one second.
Intensity
The distance between one point on a wave and the point just like it.
Wavelength
The number of times the pattern repeats in a given amount of time.
Frequency
The perception of how high or low a sound is; related to the frequency of a sound wave.
Pitch
Water waves
Friction between wind at sea and the water, forms water waves. Energy from the wind transfers to the water as it moves towards the land. Water waves are mechanical waves; they can only travel through matter. They appear to look like transverse waves, however the particles move in circles, making water waves a combination of transverse and longitudinal waves.
Energy is proportional to
Amplitude squared
Amplitude intensity and loudness is
The intensity of a sound is the amount of sound energy that passes through a square meter of space in one second. This means that as the sound wave moves further from the source of the sound, the energy becomes more spread out, and the intensity decreases. As the intensity decreases, the amplitude also decreases, therefore loudness also decreases.
