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Light and Sound Wave
Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Waves | Oscillations that carry energy |
Oscillation | an 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 | 1. Waves from speedboat 2. Talking |
Types of Electromagnetic waves | 1. X-rays 2. Radio Waves |
Electromagnetic waves | Waves that travel in a vacuum |
Wave properties | Amplitude, crest, trough |
Amplitude | one half the distance between a waves high point |
Crest | highest point |
Trough | lowest point |
Resting point | Position the medium would take if there was no wave |
Wavelength and symbol | Measure of a point on one wave to a point on another wave. Greek symbol for lambda |
3 ways to measure wavelength | Crest to crest. through to through |
wavelength units | meters |
Frequency | number of waves that pass a fixed point in a given unit of time |
Units for frequency | Hertz |
Wave Speed | Time it takes to move from one point to another |
Wave speed units | Meters per second |
Wave speed equation | V = f x wavelength |
Medium | Makes the transfer of one substance to another possible |
Reflection | When a wave bounces off of something (Looking in a mirror) |
Law of Reflection | Waves reflecting at the same angle as the angle that it moved toward the barrier |
Reflected Ray | A ray of light or another form of radiant energy which is thrown back from a non absorbing surface |
Incident Ray | A ray of light that strikes a surface |
Refraction | The bending of waves as they travel through different mediums. (Distorted light waves of a pencil in water.) |
Diffraction | The bending of waves around a barrier or the spreading of waves past small openings. (Ocean waves coming through pier.) |
Interference | Result of waves colliding with e/o |
Constructive interference | Waves colliding to form a larger wave |
Destructive interference | Waves interfering with e/o and cancelling e/o out |
Absorption | Wave passing through a substance |
Absorbed colors | An object that appears a certain color reflects the light frequency that corresponds to that color, and it absorbs all the other frequencies in the visible light spectrum. |
Reflected colors | colour reflected by the object is the colour perceived |
Electromagnetic spectrum | Ranges in wavelengths from thousands of meters to a trillionth of a meter long |
Visible light spectrum | light that humans can see between 400-700 nano meters |
longitudinal wave | Oscillates in the same direction as it means |
expansion | a group of waves far apart |
compression | a group of waves close together |
intensity (of sound) | how much energy a sound wave carries past a certain area |
units of sound | a unit of perceived loudness |
pitch | perception of sound 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 the information takes is much simpler |