| A | B |
|---|
| Waves | A repeating disturbance that transfers energy through matter or space |
| Medium | Any matter through which a wave can travel |
| Mechanical waves | Waves that can travel only through matter |
| Electromagnetic waves | Waves that do not require a medium to travel |
| Transverse waves | Waves in which the particles move back and forth at right angles to the direction the wave travels |
| Longitudinal waves | The particles of the medium move back & forth along the same direction that the wave travels |
| Surface waves | A wave that travels along a surface separating two media |
| Crest | High point of a transverse wave |
| Trough | Low point of a transverse wave |
| Compression | The more-dense region of a longitudinal wave |
| Rarefaction | The less-dense region of a longitudinal wave |
| Amplitude | The size of a disturbance from a wave |
| Wavelength | The distance between one point on a wave and the nearest point just like it |
| Frequency | The number of waves that pass a fixed point per second |
| Wave speed | The speed at which a wave travels |
| Reflection | When a wave bounces back after striking a barrier |
| Law of Reflection | The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection |
| Refraction | Bending of a wave caused by a change in speed as it travels from one medium to another |
| Diffraction | The bending of waves around an object |
| Interference | The result of two or more waves overlapping |
| Constructive interference | Waves add together |
| Destructive interference | Waves cancel each other out |
| Standing wave | Wave that appears to form a stationary pattern due to destructive interference |
| Resonance | Process by which an object is made to vibrate by absorbing energy at its natural frequencies |
