2 Longitudinal Waves

Pupil P (the names have been changed on legal advice) talks in a loud voice. When he talks he causes the air near his mouth to compress. A compression wave then passes through the air to the ears of the people around him. This is a wave like the ones we saw in the first lesson in that it has a wavelength; a frequency and an amplitude. A longitudinal sound wave has to travel through something - it cannot pass through a vacuum because there aren't any particles to compress together. The wavelength will be the distance between two regions of compression. The frequency is the number of wavelengths passing in one second - this the pitch (or high or low) of a sound wave. The amplitude (this is the loudness of the sound) is how much the air particles get moved.

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Now answer these questions:

1. What sort of wave is a sound wave ? - latitudinal transverse longitudinal
2. What sort of wave is a light wave ? - latitudinal transverse longitudinal
3. What is the wavelength of a wave ? - the distance between 2 compressions a single compression the length of a compression
4. What is the frequency of a wave ? - the distance between 2 compressions the number of wavelengths per second the length of a compression
5. If the amplitude of a sound wave is altered - what changes ? - the loudness the pitch (high/low) the language
6. If the frequency of a sound wave is altered - what changes ? - the loudness the pitch (high/low) the language
7. Can a sound wave travel through water ? - yes no
8. Can a sound wave travel through a vacuum ? - yes no
9. How does the sound from thunder reach us ? - latitudinal wave transverse wave longitudinal wave
10. How does the light from lightning reach us ? - latitudinal wave transverse wave longitudinal wave

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