Waves: The motion that occurs when energy moves through matter (liquids, solids, and gases)

Waves:The motion that occurs when energy moves through

matter (liquids, solids, and gases)

Lesson 1: Ocean Waves:The motion in the ocean

A. The MoonB. Large WhalesC. The WindD. Pirates

Q: What do you think is the main cause of an ocean wave?

Wind is the energy that travels through the water (matter) making a wave motion.

However, waves are not always caused by wind. Waves can be caused by any type of energy or force.

Tsunamis (storms in the ocean in which huge waves occur) are caused by earth quake waves and shifting of the land at the bottom of the ocean.

A: (B) The Wind! Ocean waves are mostly caused by wind.

True or False: Water is not really traveling when a wave occurs.

The wave movement is actually the energy passing through the water.

A: True! Water basically stays right where it is when a wave

occurs.

It’s kind of like if you tied a rope to a tree, and then moved your arm up and down holding the other end of it. The rope wouldn’t go any where; it just makes a wave motion as the energy from your arm passes through it.

A.TransverseB.Longitudinal

Q: There are two different kinds of waves: transverse waves and longitudinal waves. What kind of waves do you think

ocean waves are?

Transverse wave motions occur in right angles and move up and down.

A: (A) Transverse!

True or False: It’s impossible to measure a wave.

Wave Amplitude: the height from the still water line to the top of the wave (its crest) or from the still water line to the bottom of the wave (its trough.)

Wave Length: the distance from crest to crest or from trough to trough.

Wave Frequency: how fast the wave travels through water, or how many waves pass a given location per second.

A: False!Waves can be measured in many different ways:

A. TrueB. False

True or False: Ripples in any water are also considered waves.

A: (A) True! Ripples are still just energy moving through water (matter) creating a smaller wave

motion.

Waves can occur in any kind of water: Rivers Ponds Lakes Swimming Pools Puddles Even Your Bathtub!

Waves are energy traveling through matter. Ocean waves get their energy mostly from the

wind. Energy is traveling through the water, the water

itself is not actually going any where! Ocean waves are transverse waves – waves that

occur in the pattern of a right angle and move up and down.

Ocean waves can be measured by their amplitude, wave length, and frequency.

Let’s Recap:

The Motion in the Ocean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX9gxnypVJ4

The stronger the wind, the bigger the wave. For this reason, surfers often watch the weather closely to see when a hurricane or strong weather is coming so they’ll have big waves to surf on.

The biggest wave ever seen was in 1933 in the North Pacific. It was 112 feet tall – that’s the height of a seven story building!

If a surfer hit a wave hard, it isn’t soft like some people may imagine. It can actually feel like hitting concrete.

Fun Facts About Ocean Waves

Lesson 2: Sound Waves

A. No. Other than the fact that they’re both called waves, they have nothing else in common.

B. Yes. They’re both forms of energy moving through matter.

C. Yes. They are actually both made of water.

Q: Do sound waves and ocean waves have anything in common?

Sound is caused by vibrations. A force causes molecules to vibrate. The

vibration is the energy that travels through the matter (usually air) in the form of a sound wave.

A: (B) Yes. They’re both forms of energy traveling through matter.

A. TransverseB. Longitudinal

Q: Do you think sound waves are transverse or longitudinal waves?

Longitudinal Waves travel in one direction without moving up and down in right angles (which is what transverse waves do.)

A: (B) Longitudinal!

A. TrueB. False

True or False: Sound waves only travel through air.

Sound traveling through matter from fastest to slowest:

1.Solids2.Liquids3.Gases

A: False Sound can travel through all matter

(solids, liquids, and gases).

A. The amount of force causing the vibration

B. The amount of matter the sound wave is traveling through

C. The type of matter that the sound wave is traveling through

D. The length of the initial forceE. All of the above

Q: What causes sound waves to make different noises?

Sound waves make different noises based on: The amount of force causing the vibration The amount of matter the sound wave is

traveling through The type of matter that the sound wave is

traveling through The length of the initial force

A: (E) All of the above!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkNJvZINSEY

Transmission of Sound

Just like ocean waves, sound waves are also energy traveling through matter (vibrations – usually through air.)

Sound waves are longitudinal waves (They travel in one direction without moving up in down.)

Sound waves can travel through all types of matter. The force causing the vibration, the length of the force

causing the vibration, the amount of matter the wave is traveling through, and the type of matter the wave is traveling through determines the way we hear the sound wave.

Let’s Recap:

Dogs can hear sound at a higher frequency than humans, allowing them to hear noises that we can’t.

Sound is used by many animals to detect danger, warning them of possible attacks before they happen.

Sound can’t travel through a vacuum (an area empty of matter).

The speed of sound is around 767 miles per hour. The loud noise you create by cracking a whip occurs

because the tip is moving so fast it breaks the speed of sound!

Fun Facts About Sound Waves

Lesson 3: Light Waves and Color(And Other Waves on the Electromagnetic

Spectrum)

A.TransverseB.Longitudinal

Q: Do you think that light waves are transverse or longitudinal?

Light waves are waves that travel on the electromagnetic spectrum.

They are actually two types of waves travelling perpendicular to each other: electric waves and magnetic waves

The electromagnetic spectrum gets its energy from the sun and other energy sources in our universe.

A: (A) Transverse! Light waves travel in an up and down motion.

A. TrueB. False

True or False: Microwaves in our kitchens work by using waves from the

electromagnetic spectrum.

1. Radio Waves2. Microwaves,3. Infrared4. Visible light5. Ultraviolet6. X-rays7. Gamma

*Visible light waves in the form of color are the only waves on the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see with our eyes.

A: (A) True! There are 7 types of waves on the electromagnetic spectrum:

http://www.darvill.clara.net/emag/index.htm

A. TrueB. False

True or False: All colors of visible light travel at the same wave frequency.

Remember that wave frequency is how many waves travel in a given location per second (in other words, how fast the

waves travel!)

A: (B) False! Each color of visible light travels at a different frequency.

A. The sun only makes yellow light.

B. The sun is too far away to see all of the colors it emits.

C. When our eyes see all of the colors of visible light together, it looks like white light to us.

D. Rainbows are only seen when they’re growing out of pots of gold.

Q: If the sun emits different colors (waves) of visible, why do you think we only see white or “yellow” light in the

sun?

The reason we see certain objects as being certain colors, is because some object will absorb some of the colors of visible light, but not others. The object will then bounce back the colors that doesn’t absorb towards out eyes.

Objects that appear white to us, absorb all of the colors of visible light.

A: (C) When our eyes see all of the colors of visible light together, it looks like white light

to us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHMH0uQDEOU

How We See Color

Light travels in two types of transverse waves: electric and magnetic waves.

Visible light is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum which also includes waves we can’t see (microwaves, radio waves, ultraviolet waves, etc.)

Different colors travel at different wave frequencies.

Let’s Recap

Light waves travel at about 671 million miles per hour. Radio waves and microwaves are used for things like wifi

internet, cell phones, microwaves in our kitchens, speeding radar machines, the radio that we listen to, and so much more.

X-rays from the EM spectrum are the waves we use to see the bones inside our bodies.

There are some animals that can see ultraviolet waves on the EM spectrum. That means they can see colors that our eyes can’t see! Butterflies and a shrimp called the mantis shrimp are two examples.

There are also some animals that see less colors than we can see. For example, dogs can’t see all of the visible light that we can see!

Fun Facts About Electromagnetic Waves

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp