Waves Wave types Wave behavior

There are two basic types of waves Longitudinal Wave Transverse Wave

Longitudinal Waves - also known as compression waves Sound is an example.

Transverse Waves

One complete cycle is one complete wavelength.

Light waves

Ocean Waves

Ripples in a pond

Transverse Waves in motion

Transverse wave with no interference, one source.

Waves that intersect causes interference. Constructive Interference- wave crests join causing a larger wave, energy of two waves join. Destructive Interference- a crest intersects with a trough and the wave energy cancel each other out, the wave gets smaller.

Two sources forming waves causes interference

Waves Earthquakes - Structure of the Earth - P Waves and S Waves. The two types of wave which travel through the planet from an earthquake are called P waves and S waves. S waves are transverse, P waves are longitudinal. P waves travel faster than S waves.transverselongitudinal In the picture below, P waves are shown in blue and S waves in red.

The transverse S waves cannot travel through the liquid outer core. They can travel through the mantle because the mantle behaves more like a solid than a liquid. The S waves curve as they move through the mantle due to refraction as the density of the mantle changes.liquid outer coremantlerefractiondensity The longitudinal P waves can travel through the whole planet. They also curve with the changing density of both the mantle and the core (except the wave passing through the centre, which travels in a straight line, normal to the boundary). The P waves change direction suddenly at the boundary between the different layers of the Earth. This is due to refraction caused by the different densities of the layers.corenormaldifferent densities