Physical Science Chapter 11 Vocabulary
Terms
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- Wave
- a repeating disturbance or movement that transfers energy through matter or space
- Medium
- a solid, liquid, or gas that a wave travels through
- Transverse wave
- a wave that moves back and forth at right angles to the direction that the wave travels
- Compressional wave
- a wave that the matter in the medium moves back and forth in the same direction that the wave travels
- Rarefaction
- the less-dense region of a compressional wave
- Wavelength
- the distance between one point on a wave and the nearest point just like it
- Frequency
- the number of wavelengths that pass a fixed point each second
- Amplitude
- related to the energy carried by a wave; greatness of size; magnitude
- Refraction
- the bending of a wave caused by a change in its speed as it moves from one medium to another
- Diffraction
- occurs when an object causes a wave to change direction and bend around it; it differs from refraction because it causes the wave to bend around it instead of through it
- Interference
- when two or more waves overlap to form a new wave
- Standing wave
- a special type of wave pattern that forms when waves equal in wavelength and amplitude, but traveling in opposite directions, continuously interfere with each other
- Resonance
- the ability of an object to vibrate by absorbing energy at its natural frequency