Unit 8 Quiz Physical Science

Relationship between frequency and wavelength

A wave with a high frequency has a small (short) wavelength.

Transverse waves

Waves in which the matter moves back and forth at right angles to the direction the wave travels.

Mechanical waves

Waves that require a medium to travel through.

Diffraction

The process by which a wave changes direction and bends around an object.

Refraction

The bending of a wave due to a change in speed as it passes into a different medium.

Waves

Rhythmic disturbances that transfer energy through matter or space.

Compressional (Longitudinal) waves

Waves in which the matter moves back and forth in the same direction that the wave is traveling.

Reflection

The process of a wave striking a surface and bouncing off.

Law of Reflection

The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

Medium

A solid, liquid, or gas through which a wave travels.

What type of wave is a sound wave?

A sound wave is a compressional (or longitudinal) mechanical wave.

Two parts of a longitudinal wave

Compressions (areas of high density) and rarefactions (areas of low density).

What is the angle of incidence?

The angle between the incoming wave (incident ray) and the normal line at the point of reflection.

What is the normal line in reflection?

An imaginary line perpendicular to the surface at the point where the wave strikes.

What is a period in wave physics?

The time it takes for one complete wave cycle to pass a given point.

What is the relationship between frequency and period?

Frequency and period are inversely proportional (f = 1/T).

What is a wave?

A rhythmic disturbance that transfers energy through matter or space without carrying matter from place to place.

What are electromagnetic waves?

Waves capable of transferring energy through a vacuum, such as light waves.

What are mechanical waves?

Waves that can only travel through a medium, such as sound waves or water waves.

What is a medium?

The matter through which a wave travels; it can be a solid, liquid, or gas.

What is a transverse wave?

A wave where particles in the medium move back and forth at right angles (perpendicular) to the direction the wave is traveling.

What is a longitudinal wave?

Also known as a compressional wave, it is a wave where particles in the medium move back and forth in the same direction (parallel) as the wave is traveling.

What is a crest?

The highest point of a transverse wave.

What is a trough?

The lowest point of a transverse wave.

What is a compression?

A region in a longitudinal wave where particles are pushed together.

What is a rarefaction?

A region in a longitudinal wave where particles are spread apart.

What is wave amplitude?

The amount of energy carried by a wave; measured by the height of a transverse wave or the amount of compression in a longitudinal wave.

What is wavelength?

The distance between one point on a wave and the nearest point just like it (e.g., crest to crest or compression to compression).

What is a wave period (T)?

The amount of time it takes for one wavelength to pass a given point, measured in seconds.

What is wave frequency (f)?

The number of waves that pass a given point in one second, measured in Hertz (Hz).

What is the relationship between frequency and wavelength?

They have an inverse relationship: the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength, and the lower the frequency, the longer the wavelength.

What is wave speed (v)?

The rate at which a wave travels, measured in m/s, calculated by the formula v = wavelength × frequency.

How does medium density affect mechanical wave speed?

Mechanical waves travel fastest through solids, then liquids, then gases, due to the closeness of the particles.

How does a vacuum affect electromagnetic wave speed?

Electromagnetic waves travel fastest through a vacuum because they do not require a medium to propagate.