Waves transport energy from one place to another. They are temporary displacement in either matter or fields. The temporary displacements are called __________ (vibrations). Waves may be either transverse or longitudinal based on how the particles (or field potentials) move in relation to direction the wave is travelling.
In the diagram below the waves are traveling from left to right.
Use this and the information above to complete the diagram.
Longitudinal waves show areas of __________ in which the particles are closer together than normal, and __________ in which they are spread out more than normal.
Electromagnetic waves are __________, sound waves are __________ and __________ waves may be either.
The maximum displacement is known as the __________ of a wave and is measured from the __________, this is where the matter (or field) would be if there wasn't a disturbance.
We can also measure the __________, this is simply the distance between two identical parts of the wave. For ease we normally measure peak to peak or trough to trough.
There are two related time measurements we can make. The __________ is the amount of time to complete one cycle (wave) and __________ is the number of cycles (waves) in a bit of time. One cycle per second is one hertz.
If a wave has a wavelength, λ and a frequency, f, then the wave speed, c, can be calculated by:
Complete the table below (to 1 s.f.):Hint: All types of EM wave travel at the same speed in a vacuum