Waves Flashcards
What is a wave?
A wave transfers energy from one place to another e.g. light and heat energy is carried to us by waves from the sun
What are transverse waves?
In a transverse wave the particles vibrate perpendicularly to the direction of the wave motion e.g. water waves, waves formed when you flick one end of a rope
What are longitudinal waves?
In a longitudinal wave the particles vibrate parallel to the direction of wave motion e.g. ultrasound
How does energy travel in a transversal wave?
Wave’s energy travels from left to right while each particle vibrates vertically up and down
What is the amplitude of a wave?
The distance from the centre of a wave to the top of a crest or from the centre to the bottom of a trough
What is the amplitude of a longitudinal wave?
It is half of the total vibration distance.
It gives us a measure of how much energy the wave is carrying along.
What is the wavelength of a wave?
Distance between one crest and the next or distance between two successive troughs or distance after which the wave begins to repeat itself.
What is the frequency of a wave?
Number of waves passing a point in one second (Unit - Hertz).
One oscillation per second is called 1 Hertz
How to work out frequency?
Number of oscillations divided by time or 1 divided by periodic time
What is periodic time?
The time it takes for one complete wave or oscillation to pass
How to find periodic time?
Time divided by number of waves
Equation triangle for speed of waves
V(Speed)
F(frequency) Wavelength
