The Wave

      What's up everybody? I'm back once again with a new post this week. Since it's April and most people are on Spring break and during this week of fun in the sun going to the beach, I wanted to talk about waves, and yes I may include something about ocean waves. Sadly, ocean waves are not the only waves out there in the world of science, so I will also talk about the other types of waves. I have to make sure you people get some kind of knowledge out of this, so I will teach the different parts of a wave. Before we dive into the world of waves, quick question: what is your favorite beach that you have been to? Please leave your comments in the comment section.



Sound wave

      Well first things first, what is a wave? A wave is a rhythmic disturbance that carries energy, but a wave can't carry matter. There are two main groups of waves, mechanical and electromagnetic waves. Mechanical waves are waves that need a medium or a material through which a wave travels. Two types of mechanical waves that are most common are transverse and compressional waves. In transverse waves, the energy travels perpendicular to the direction of energy transport, but in compressional waves, the energy travels parallel to the energy being transported. An electromagnetic wave does not need a medium too, like radio and ultraviolet waves.

Compression wave

      Now that we know what waves are and some different types of waves, let's talk about the different parts of a wave. The top of a wave is called the crest. The crest is the highest point of the wave. The next part of the wave is the trough. The trough is the lowest point of a wave. The wavelength is the distance measured from two crests or from two troughs. Frequency is the measure of how many wavelengths pass through a given point in 1 second. The closer the wavelengths are to each other, the higher the frequency, and the farther apart the wavelengths are from each other, the lower the frequency. Finally, the amplitude is half the distance between a crest and a trough.

Wave diagram

      Thanks for reading this week's post, and please leave a comment in the comment section down below.