| A | B |
|---|
| waves | Rhythmic disturbances that carry energy without carrying matter. |
| mechanical waves | Waves that use matter to transfer energy |
| transverse waves | A type of mechanical wave in which the wave energy causes matter in the medium to move up and down or back and forth at right angles to the direction the wave travels. |
| compressional waves | A type of mechanical wave in which matter in the medium moves forward and backward along the direction the wave travels. |
| electromagnetic waves | Waves that can travel through matter or space; includes radio waves, infrared waves, visible light waves, UV waves, X rays, and gamma rays. |
| amplitude | For a transverse wave, one half the distance between a crest and a trough. |
| wavelength | For a transverse wave, the distance between the tops of two adjacent crests or the bottoms of two adjacent troughs; for a compressional wave, the distance from the centers of adjacent rarefactions or adjacent compressions. |
| frequency | The number of wavelengths that pass a given point in 1 second in a wave. |
| reflection | When a wave strikes an object or surface and bounces off. |
| refraction | The bending of a wave as it moves from one medium into another. |
| diffraction | The bending of waves around a barrier. |
| interference | The ability of two waves to combine and form a new wave when they overlap. |
