1. Wave Features & Types of Waves

2. What Waves Are and What They Do
A wave is a repeated vibration travelling through a medium (material) that is caused by some kind of disturbance in the material.
ALL waves transport energy away from the location of the disturbance.

3. Types of Waves
Transverse Waves – the material vibrates perpendicular to the direction of that the wave is moving
Longitudinal Waves – the material vibrates parallel to the direction of that the wave is moving

4. Types of Waves
To see a clip of both types of waves side by side, click the link at the bottom of this slide.
Wave A is longitudinal, and Wave B is transverse. In Wave A, pay attention to the red line; in Wave B, pay attention to the red dot.
Click here to view the animation.

5. Transverse Waves

6. Transverse Waves
The amplitude of a wave is defined as the distance from the equilibrium position of any part of the material to the position of maximum displacement when the wave travels through it.
The equilibrium position is simply the location of any part of the material before the wave passes through it.

7. Transverse Waves
As seen on the diagram, the amplitude can be measured as the distance from the “middle” to the peaks (high points) or the troughs (low points).
The wavelength is the distance from peak to peak, or from trough to trough.

8. Transverse Waves
The period is the amount of time required for any part of the material to complete one full vibration (peak to trough and back again).
The frequency is the number of these vibrations that occur each second; it can also be considered the reciprocal of the period.

9. Longitudinal Waves

10. Longitudinal Waves
The wavelength of a longitudinal wave is the distance from one compression to the next.
Period and frequency are defined in the same way that they are for transverse waves.
It is more difficult to visualize the amplitude of a longitudinal wave, but it is still the distance from the equilibrium position to the position of maximum displacement.