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ch.14 vocab
Term | Definition |
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Wave | A periodic disturbance in a solid, liquid, or gas as energy transmitted through a medium |
Medium | A physical environment which phenomena occur |
Mechanical Wave | A wave that requires a medium through which to travel |
Electromagnitic wave | A wave that consists of oscillating electric & magnetic fields, which radiate outward at the speed of light |
Transverse Wave | A wave which the particles of the medium move perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling |
Longitudinal Wave | A wave which the particles of the medium vibrate parallel to the of wave motion |
Crest | The highest point of a wave |
Trough | The lowest point of a wave |
Amplitude | The maximum distance that the particles of a wave's medium vibrate from their rest position |
Wavelength | The distance from any point on a wave to an identical point on the next wsve |
Period | The time that it takes a complete cycle or wave oscillation to occur |
Frequency | The number of cycles or vibrations per unit of time |
Doppler Effect | An observed change in the frequency of a wave when the source or observer is moving |
Reflection | The bouncing back of a ray of light, sound, or heat when the ray hits a surface that it does not go through |
Diffraction | A change in the direction of a wave when the wave finds an obstacle or an edge, such as a opening |
Refraction | The bending of a wavefront as the wavefront passes between two substances which the speed of the wave differs |
Interference | The combination of two or more waves of the same frequency that results in a single wave |
Constructive Interference | Any interference which waves combine so that the resulting wave is bigger than the original wave |
Destructive Interference | Any interference which waves combine so that the resulting wave is smaller than the largest of the original waves |
Standing Wave | A pattern of vibratiuon that stimulates a wave that is standing still |