Questions and Answers
What is a longitudinal wave?
What are mechanical waves?
Waves that can travel only through matter.
What is a medium in wave terminology?
The matter through which a wave travels.
Describe a transverse wave.
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What is an amplitude?
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What is a compression in a longitudinal wave?
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What is a crest in a transverse wave?
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Define frequency in wave terminology.
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What is the period of a wave?
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What is rarefaction in a longitudinal wave?
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Define trough in wave terminology.
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What is a wavelength?
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What does diffraction refer to?
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Define interference in wave terms.
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What is a node in wave terminology?
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What is refraction?
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Define resonance.
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What is a standing wave?
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Study Notes
Wave Types
- Longitudinal Wave: Matter moves back and forth in the same direction as the wave travels.
- Transverse Wave: Matter moves perpendicularly to the wave direction, characterized by crests (high points) and troughs (low points).
- Mechanical Wave: Requires a medium (solid, liquid, gas) to travel through, cannot propagate in a vacuum.
Wave Properties
- Wave: Defined as a repeating disturbance that transfers energy through space or matter.
- Medium: The substance or material that carries the wave.
- Amplitude: Indicates the disturbance size of a wave, correlating with energy carried; higher amplitude means more energy.
Wave Measurements
- Frequency: The number of wavelengths that pass a fixed point each second, measured in hertz (Hz).
- Period: The time it takes for one wavelength to pass a point, expressed in seconds.
- Wavelength: The distance between two identical points on consecutive waves, affecting wave frequency and speed.
Wave Phenomena
- Compression: Areas of high density in a longitudinal wave, where particles are closely packed.
- Rarefaction: Areas of low density in a longitudinal wave, where particles are spread out.
- Diffraction: The bending of waves around obstacles or when passing through narrow openings.
- Refraction: The bending of waves when they change speed as they move into a different medium.
Wave Interactions
- Interference: Occurs when two or more waves overlap and combine, resulting in a new wave pattern.
- Node: Points in a standing wave where interfering waves cancel each other out, leading to no movement.
Special Wave Concepts
- Crest: The peak of a transverse wave.
- Trough: The lowest point of a transverse wave.
- Standing Wave: A stationary wave pattern formed by interference of two waves traveling in opposite directions with equal wavelength and amplitude.
- Resonance: The process by which an object vibrates at its natural frequency due to energy absorption.
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Description
Test your knowledge on key terms from IPC Chapter 9 with these flashcards. This set covers essential vocabulary related to waves and how they interact with different mediums. Perfect for mastering the concepts in your physics studies!