Get premium membership and access questions with answers, video lessons as well as revision papers.

Define transverse and longitudinal pulses and waves giving suitable illustrations

      

Define transverse and longitudinal pulses and waves giving suitable illustrations.

  

Answers


Mutiso
1. Transverse waves – they consist of a crest and a trough. In this case the displacement of the medium caused by these pulses are perpendicular to the direction in which the wave (disturbance) travels. A pulse is a single non-repeated disturbance. If the pulses are repeated periodically (regularly) they produce a series of waves called periodic transverse wave train. They can be produced as shown below. Examples are water waves, light and radio waves.
transversewave12102018.jpg
2. Longitudinal waves – these are waves whereby the particles of the medium vibrate parallel to the direction of movement of the disturbance. When several turns of a spring are pulled together (compression) and then released they tend to spread out to their original position. When pulled apart (rarefaction) they also turn to their original position. In this case the displacement of the spring is parallel to the motion of the wave and this is known as longitudinal. Examples are the sound waves.
longitudinal1.jpg
longitudinal2.jpg
Mutiso answered the question on October 12, 2018 at 11:24


Next: Two identical springs, whose spring constant is 6.0 N/cm, are used to support a load of 60 N as shown below. Determine the extension of...
Previous: Outline the characteristics of waves

View More Physics Questions and Answers | Return to Questions Index


Learn High School English on YouTube

Related Questions