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Waves & Technology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Wave | A disturbance that transfers energy from place to place. |
| Energy | The ability to do work. |
| Amplitude | The maximum distance the particles of a medium move away from their rest positions as a wave passes through the medium. |
| Wavelength | Distance between 2 corresponding points (crest to crest, trough to trough). |
| Frequency | The number of complete waves that pass a given point in a certain amount of time. |
| Vibration | Repeated back |
| Crest | The highest part of a transverse wave. |
| Trough | The lowest part of a transverse wave. |
| Resting Position | On a graph it would be located at 0. |
| Mechanical Waves | Travel through gases, liquids or solids. |
| Medium | Material through which a wave travels. |
| Damping | Any type of friction that causes a wave to decrease in frequency and amplitude. |
| Speed | How far a wave travels in a given amount of time. |
| Electromagnetic Waves | Waves that transfer electric and magnetic energy through the vacuum of space. |
| Electromagnetic Spectrum | The complete range of electromagnetic waves placed in order of increasing frequency. |
| Visible Light | Electromagnetic waves that are visible to the human eye. |
| Opaque | A material that reflects and absorbs all of the light that strikes it. |
| Primary Colors | Three colors that can be used to make any other color. (Red, yellow, and blue.) |
| Primary Colors of Light | Red, green, blue. |
| Angle of Incidence | Equals the law of reflection. |
| Law of Reflection | The rule that the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence. |
| Plane Mirror | A flat mirror that produces an upright, virtual image the same size as the object. |
| Concave Mirrors | A mirror with a surface that curves inward. |
| Convex Mirrors | A mirror with a surface that curves outward. |
| Refraction | The bending of waves as t |
| Lens | A curved piece of glass and other transparent material that is used to refract light. |
| Convex Lens | A lens that is thicker in the center that at the edges. |
| Concave Lens | A lens that is thinner in the center than at the edges. |