Mechanical Waves and Properties

Vocabulary flashcards covering wave types, mechanical wave characteristics, wave properties, formulas, and historical context based on the lecture slides.

Wave

A disturbance that travels from one place to another, transferring energy without transporting matter as a whole.

Mechanical Wave

A disturbance that requires a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to travel and transfer energy from one place to another.

Electromagnetic Wave

A wave that does not need a medium and can travel through empty space.

Transverse Wave

A mechanical wave in which particles move up and down (perpendicular) relative to the direction the wave travels forward.

Longitudinal Wave

A mechanical wave in which particles move back and forth parallel to the direction the wave travels.

Surface Wave

A wave in which particles move in a combination of up-and-down and back-and-forth motion as the wave travels along a surface.

Compression

The region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are close together.

Rarefaction

The region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are spread apart.

Amplitude ($A$)

The maximum displacement of a particle from its equilibrium or rest position, measured in meters ($\text{m}$).

Wavelength ($\lambda$)

The distance between two consecutive points that are in the same phase, such as crest to crest or trough to trough, measured in meters ($\text{m}$).

Frequency ($f$)

The number of complete waves or cycles passing a point each second, measured in hertz ($\text{Hz}$).

Period ($T$)

The time required for one complete wave cycle, measured in seconds ($\text{s}$), related to frequency by $f = \frac{1}{T}$.

Wave Speed ($v$)

The speed at which a wave disturbance travels, calculated using the equation $v = f\lambda$ or $v = \frac{\lambda}{T}$.

Leonardo da Vinci

A 16th-century artist and inventor who studied and documented water movement and waves through qualitative observations and drawings of nature.

Cryptogram

A puzzle where a coded word, phrase, or sentence is presented by replacing letters with corresponding numbers.