Login
Username:
Password:

Longitudinal and Transverse waves

[b]All waves transfer energy from one region to another.[b] [ul] [li]Longitudinal waves can be [b]Earthquake[/b] waves and [b]sound waves[/b][/li] [li]Transverse waves can be [i]Gamma rays[/i], [i]X-Rays[/i], [i]Ultraviolet[/i], [i]Light[/i], [i]Microwaves[/i] and [i]Radiowaves[/i][/li] [h3]Longitudinal Waves[/h3] Compression = Particles are close together Rarefaction = Particles are further apart [img src='https://res.cloudinary.com/deylrqt2d/image/upload/v1487880092/compression_rarefaction_wt3gof.svg' style='width:35vw'] [highlight] The particles move in the direction of the waves. Mass is not transferred. [/highlight] Sound is a longitudinal wave so [b] sound cannot traverse (travel) through a vacuum[/b]. Sound speed through air is ~320m/s. [h3]Transverse Waves[/h3] [img src='https://res.cloudinary.com/deylrqt2d/image/upload/v1487880480/transverse_waves_ecduim.svg' style='width:50vw'] [ul] [li]The particles move up and down.[/li] [li]This is called oscillation.[/li] [li]The particles move perpendicular to the wave's direction.[/li] [/ul] [b]Transverse waves[/b] have a major category called the [b]Electromagnetic Spectrum[/b], which contains the following: [table] [tr] [td]Radio Waves[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;']RW[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Microwaves[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;']MW[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Infra-Red[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;']IR[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Light Spectrum[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;padding:0 2px;']Visible Light[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ultraviolet[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;']UV[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]X-Rays[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;']X-Rays[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Gamma Rays[/td][td style='background-color:#3C427C;color:#fff;'][gamma] (Gamma)[/td] [/tr] [/table] [b]Visible light itself is made up from 6 main different light wavelengths:[/b] [ul] [li]Red - [b]R[/b][/li] [li]Orange - [b]O[/b][/li] [li]Yellow - [b]Y[/b][/li] [li]Green - [b]G[/b][/li] [li]Blue - [b]B[/b][/li] [li]Indigo - [b]I[/b][/li] [li]Violet - [b]V[/b][/li] [/ul] [highlight] They also all travel [b]at the speed of light in a vacuum[/b]. [lambda] - denotes wavelength in metres. [/highlight]