| A | B |
|---|
| Transverse Wave | Wave where particles vibrate perpendicular to direction of wave |
| Longitudinal Wave | Wave where particles vibrate parallel to direction of wave's motion |
| Rarefaction | Area of low pressure in a longitudinal wave |
| Area of Compression | Area of high pressure in a longitudinal wave |
| Crest | Top of a transverse wave |
| Trough | Bottom of a transverse wave |
| Amplitude | Height of a wave: measured from crest to rest position or trough to rest position |
| Wavelength | Length of one wave cycle |
| Frequency | How many waves pass by a point in one second |
| Period | Length of time for one wave cycle |
| Reflection | When a wave bounces off of a surface |
| Refraction | When a wave bends as it passes through a new medium |
| Medium | Material a wave passes through |
| Mechanical wave | Wave that requires matter (a medium) to travel |
| Electromagnetic Wave | Wave created by accelerating charged particles. Can travel in a vacuum |
| diffraction | separating a wave into it's component parts |
| destructive interference | When two waves overlap each other so that the net amplitude is LESS than either wave alone. When two or more waves interact so that they reduce one another |
| constructive interference | When two or more waves interact so that the net amplitude is MORE than either wave alone. When two or more waves interact so that they increase one another. |
| Cyclic Motion | is anything that repeats itself over and over. Example: The pendulum on a clock. |
| resonance | The reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection from a surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object. |
| Node | Point in a standing wave where the amplitude is the lowest. |
| Antinode | Point in a standing wave where the amplitude is the greatest. |
| rest position | Part of a wave that is directly between the crest and the trough. Where a wave's medium would be resting if a wave were not causing it to vibrate. |
