Different Types of Waves and How They Travel: Weekly Blog #17

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Summary 

This week in science, I learned about different types of waves and how they are used everywhere around me. Waves can be put into 2 different major categories, mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves. The difference between them is that mechanical waves require a medium to travel through while electromagnetic don't. Then, mechanical waves can be broken down into 2 categories, longitudinal waves and transverse waves. Sound waves also travel differently depending on which medium they travel through. When sound travels through a solid, it travels at the same speed that it typically would. When it moves through a liquid, it travels slower due to the molecules being not as close. In a gas, sound travels very slowly because the molecules are so far apart.

S&EP - Using models

This week, we did an experiment using slinkys. These slinkys were used to model the differences between longitudinal and transverse waves. In transverse waves there is a displacement in molecules that go through compression and rarefaction's. This was exemplify through the slinky because of the spring expanding in certain areas and tightening in others when it was pushed. Longitudinal waves travel up and down and have a trough and crest, so this was shown when we waved the slinky up and down. this created waves that resulted in having a trough and a crest and bounced up and down when moved in that matter.

XCC - Energy and Matter

This week in science, we had to deal with energy when it came to sound waves. The movement of energy is clearly present in sound waves. This is due to sound waves being a way of transferring energy. In sound waves, energy is carried through vibrations. But, it isn't only in sound waves that carry energy, in fact, all waves carry energy. Electromagnetic waves transfer energy in all sorts of different ways. Electromagnetic waves carry electromagnetic energy and depending on the different wave lengths and frequencies of the waves. These different types of waves are organized on the electromagnetic spectrum.