Science Study Guide PDF

A wave is any disturbance that transfers energy from place to place a medium is a material or matter a wave travels through a vacuum is a completely empty space A mechanical waves is a wave that requires a medium to travel through an example of this would be a sound wave Sound waves are produced...

A wave is any disturbance that transfers energy from place to place a medium is a material or matter a wave travels through a vacuum is a completely empty space A mechanical waves is a wave that requires a medium to travel through an example of this would be a sound wave Sound waves are produced when a source of energy causes a medium to vibrate Electromagnetic radiation is a wave that does not require a medium to travel through An example of this would be visible lights radio waves X-rays micro waves mechanical waves are classified by the direction of how they move the two main ones are transverse and longitudinal A transverse wave travels perpendicular(right 90 degrees) to the direction of the sources motion an example of this would be moving a rope up and down A crest is the high part of a transverse wave Trough is the low part of a transverse wave A longitudinal wave travels parallel to the vibrations A compression is when the coils are close together a rarefaction is parts when the coils are spread out rarified a surface wave is a combination of transverse and longitudinal waves It moves in two directions (a circular motion) a example of this is ocean waves Waves can carry little or a lot of energy, are short or long rare or frequent and fast or slow basic properties include amplitude, wavelength, frequency, speed amplitude is the distance between the highest crest and resting position the more energy a wave has the greater its amplitude The wavelength is a distance a wave travels before it starts to repeat the distance between 2 parts of a wave (crest to crest trough to trough) frequency is the amount of times a wave repeats a numbers of complete waves that passes a given point in a certain amount of time it is measured in hertz one wave per second is one hertz speed is the distance a wave travels in a certain amount of time different waves different speeds light travels almost 1M times faster than sound (through air) Different speeds through different materials light travels faster through water than through glass sound travels faster through water than air speed = distance divided by time Wave speed = wave length time frequency an example of this is if you and your friend are standing at the opposite ends of the gym one of you claps will the other person hear the clap at the same time or he or she sees it? Since light travels much faster than sound, the person will see the clap happen before they hear it. This time delay between the visual and auditory perception of the clap is what causes the person to see it before they hear it a wave transmits energy from place to place it depends on how much energy was input by the source of vibration faster vibrations transmit more energy larger amplitude vibrations transmit more energy a waves energy is proportional to its frequency a waves energy is proportional to the square of its amplitude