| A | B |
|---|
| wave | repeating disturbance or movement that transfers energy through matter or space |
| medium | the matter the waves travel through |
| transverse wave | matter in the medium moves back and forth at right angles to the direction that the wave travels |
| compressional wave | matter in the medium moves back and forth along the same direction that the wave travels |
| crests | transverse wave high points |
| troughs | transverse wave low points |
| 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 |
| period | the amount of time it takes one wavelength to pass a point |
| amplitude | a measure of the energy carried by a wave |
| 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 |
| interference | when two or more waves overlap and combine to form a new wave |
| standing wave | special type of wave pattern that forms when waves equal in wavelength and amplitude, but traveling in opposited directions, continuously interfere with each other |
| resonance | the process by which an object is made to vibrate by absoring energy at its natural frequencies |
