Wave Vocabulary Flashcards
A disturbance that transfers energy from one place to another with out requiring matter to move the entire distance.
Waves
A substance through which a wave moves.
Medium
A wave such as a sound or seismic wave that transfers kinetic energy through matter.
Mechanical Wave
A wave in which the disturbance moves at right angles to the direction of the wave.
Transverse Wave
A type of wave in which the disturbance move in the same direction the wave travels.
Longitudinal Wave
The highest point or peak of the wave.
Crest
The lowest point or valley of the wave.
Trough
The maximum distance that a disturbance causes a medium to move in its rest position.
Amplitude
The distance from one crest to the next wave crest.
Wave Length
The number of waves that pass a fixed point in a given period of time.
Frequency
The bouncing back of a wave after it hits a barrier.
Reflection
The bending of light as it crosses a boundary between two mediums at an angle other than 90 degrees.
Refraction
The spreading out of waves as they pass through an opening or around the edges of an obstacle.
Diffraction
The meeting and combining of waves; the adding or subtracting of wave amplitudes that occur as waves overlap.
Interference
The range of all electromagnetic frequencies.
Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Energy that travels across distances in form of electromagnetic waves.
Radiation
The part of the electromagnetic spectrum that consists of waves of the lowest frequencies.
Radio Waves
Part of the electromagnetic spectrum that consists of waves with a higher frequency than radio waves but lower frequencies than infrared waves.
Microwaves
Part of the electromagnetic spectrum that consists of waves with a frequency between those of microwaves and visible light.
Infrared Light
The part of the electromagnetic spectrum that consists of wave frequencies higher than those of visible light and lower than X-Rays.
Ultraviolet Light
The part of the electromagnetic spectrum that consists of waves with high frequencies and high energies; electromagnetic frequencies ranging from 10 to the 16th power and to the 10 to the 21st power hertz.
X-Rays
Part of the electromagnetic that consists of waves with the highest frequencies.
Gamma Rays
The passage of waves through a medium.
Transmission
The disappearance of a wave into a medium. The energy transferred by a wave is converted into another form of energy.
Absorption
The spreading out of light waves in all directions as particles reflect and absorb the light.
Scattering
Three colors of light (red, yellow, and blue) that can be mixed to produce all possible colors.
Primary Colors
Three colors of substances (cyan, yellow, and magenta) that can be mixed to produce any possible colors.
Primary Pigment.
An optical tool that uses reflection of light (red, yellow, and blue) that can be mixed to produce all possible colors.
Prism
A way of filtering light so that all of the waves vibrate in the same direction.
Polarization
A type of wave such as a light wave or radio wave that does not require a medium to travel through a disturbance that transfers energy through a field.
Electromagnetic Waves
