Transverse and Longitudinal waves
- Transverse
waves cause the medium to move
perpendicular to the direction of the wave.
- Longitudinal
waves cause the medium to move parallel
to the direction of the wave.
FIG.
6-2 Transverse and longitudinal waves. (a) Transverse
waves travel along the rope in the direction of the black arrow. The individual
particles of the rope move back and forth (color arrows) perpendicular to the
direction of the waves. (b) In longitudinal waves, successive regions of
compression and rarefaction move along the spring. The particles of the spring
move back and forth parallel to the spring.
An analogy to these waves can be shown in waves of a crowd.
The
standard wave we see at the baseball game could be considered a transverse
wave because the people are moving perpendicular to the direction of the wave.
If
the people bump shoulders instead of standing up, this would be a longitudinal
wave.
Please
go to the following applet and examine the transverse and longitudinal
waves.
http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/~hwang/waveType/waveType.html