5.24 Longitudinal Wave
5.24 Longitudinal Wave
- Describe a longitudinal wave.
- Identify compressions and rarefactions of a longitudinal wave.
- Define P waves.
You’ve probably played with Slinky spring toys like these. They’re simple toys, but they can move in very interesting
ways. Pushing in on the end of a spring toy, for example, gives it energy that moves through the spring in a
longitudinal wave.
What Is a Longitudinal Wave?
Alongitudinal waveis a type of mechanical wave. A mechanical wave is a wave that travels through matter, called
the medium. In a longitudinal wave, particles of the medium vibrate in a direction that is parallel to the direction
that the wave travels. You can see this in theFigure5.48. The person’s hand pushes and pulls on one end of the
spring. The energy of this disturbance passes through the coils of the spring to the other end. You can see a video of
a longitudinal wave in a spring at this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRlaCCQfDk.
MEDIA
Click image to the left for use the URL below.
URL: http://www.ck12.org/flx/render/embeddedobject/82386