Wave Motion - Mission WM1 Detailed Help


TRUE    or    FALSE:
As a water wave moves from the middle of the ocean to the sandy shore, one might expect particles of water to be displaced from the middle of the ocean to locations near the shore.
 
(Note: The exact wording of your true-false statement is randomly selected and may vary from that listed above.)


 
Nature of a Wave:
A wave results from a periodic and repeating disturbance of a medium at a given location; energy is transported from that location through the medium by means of particle-to-particle interaction. While energy moves through the medium, the actual particles of the medium simply undergo a back-and-forth vibration about a fixed position.


 
A common misconception (wrong idea) regarding waves is that a wave involves the movement of matter from the source to other parts of a medium. But don't be fooled! Waves involve the transport of energy, not the transport of matter. When a wave exists in a body of water (such as on an ocean), particles of water simply undergo a back-and-forth vibratory cycle about a fixed position. The water particles do not actually move from a location near the middle of the ocean to a location that is closer to shore. The same can be said of a slinky wave, a sound wave, or any type of mechanical wave.


 

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