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Waves Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| waves | oscillations that carry energy |
| oscillation | up and down or back and forth motion |
| vacuum | space that has no matter in it |
| mechanical waves | waves that move through matter |
| types of mechanical waves | Waves in water created from the back of a speedboat. Talking creates sound waves, which travel by transferring vibrations from molecule to molecule and move the sound from mouth to ear. |
| electromagnetic waves | waves that move through vacuums |
| wave properties | amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and wave speed |
| amplitude | one-half the distance between a wave's high point and trough |
| crest | a waves highest point |
| trough | a waves lowest point |
| resting point | equilibrium or horizon |
| wavelength and symbol | measured from a point on one wave to the same point on the next wave; lambda |
| wavelength units | meters |
| 4 ways to measure wavelength are: | crest to crest, trough to trough, compression to compression, and rarefaction to rarefaction |
| frequency | the number of waves that pass a fixed point in a given unit of time |
| units for frequency | hertz (Hz) |
| wave speed | the time it takes a wave to move from one point to another |
| wave speed units | meters per second (m/s) |
| wave speed equation | wave speed=frequency x wavelength (v=f x lambda) |
| medium | a substance or material which carries the wave |
| reflection EX: | when a wave bounces off a surface EX:when you look into a mirror and see your reflection |
| law of reflection | explains that a wave reflects at the same angle as the angle it moved toward the barrier |
| reflected ray | the wave that bounces off the barrier |
| incident ray | the wave that is going towards the barrier |
| refraction EX: | the bending of waves as they travel through different mediums EX: pencil in a cup of water |
| diffraction EX: | the bending of waves around a barrier or the spreading of waves past small openings EX :ocean waves coming through a pier |
| interference | the result of waves colliding with each other |
| constructive interference | when waves combine to form a larger wave |
| destructive interference | when waves interfere with each other and cancel each other out |
| absorption | the transfer of energy from a wave to matter as the wave passes through it |
| absorbed colors | the colors absorbed instead of reflected; cannot be seen because they are absorbed |
| reflected colors | the colors that can be seen in an object |
| electromagnetic spectrum | ranges in wavelengths from thousands of meters to a trillionth of a meter long |
| visible light spectrum | only ranges from 700-400 nanometers (billionths of a meter) |
| longitudinal wave | a wave that oscillates in the same direction it moves |
| expansion | region in a longitudinal wave when the particles are furthest apart |
| compression | region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are closets together |
| intensity (of sound) | how much energy a sound wave carries past a certain area |
| units of sound | decibel scale (dB) |
| pitch | our perception of sound wave frequency |
| analog signal | carry info. but vary continuously in both amplitude and frequency |
| digital signal | send info. as wave pulses, and communicate only through 1s and 0s, so the form that info. takes is much simpler |
Created by:
2022abst
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