Download Mechanical Waves (Chapter 17) 1. What does a wave transfer

Mechanical Waves (Chapter 17)
1. What does a wave transfer?
Energy
2. What is a transverse wave? What does a crest look like? What does a trough look like? A transverse wave
transfers energy at right angles to the direction of the wave (up and down). A crest is the highest point of the
wave. A trough is the lowest part of the wave.
3. What is a longitudinal wave? What does a compression look like? What does a rarefaction look like? A
longitudinal wave transfers energy in the same direction as the direction of the wave (side to side). A
compression is where the particles are squeezed close together. A rarefaction is where the particles are
spread apart.
4. What is wavelength? A wavelength is from a point on one cycle of a wave to the same point on the next cycle
of the wave (crest to crest, trough to trough, compression to compression, etc).
5. What is amplitude? Does amplitude tell you how much energy is in the wave? Amplitude is the distance from
rest position to crest OR rest position to trough. The larger that distance (the larger the amplitude), the more
energy the wave has.
6. What is refraction? Refraction is the bending of a wave as it enters a new medium at an angle. The new
medium causes the wave to change speeds.
7. What kind of wave is a sound wave? Longitudinal
8. What is the Doppler Effect? It is when the pitch of a sound changes because whatever is making the sound is
moving, the listener is moving, or both. The pitch changes because the frequency of the sound waves as they
approach the listener is higher and the frequency of the sound waves as they move away from the listener is
lower.
9. What is the reflection of sound waves off of a hard surface can create a what? Echo
10. What kind of medium do waves travel through the fastest? Solids (the particles are closest together)
The Electromagnetic Spectrum (Chapter 18)
1. What is the electromagnetic spectrum? The range of frequencies (and wavelengths) or different
electromagnetic waves.
2. What are electromagnetic waves? Waves that have two transverse waves that travel at right angles to each
other. One wave is the magnetic field and one wave is the electric field. They do not need a medium,
meaning they can travel through a vacuum.
3. What is dispersion? Separating of colors from white light
4. What does “opaque” mean? Object cannot be seen through at all because all light is being absorbed and/or
reflected
5. What does “transparent” mean? Object can be seen through because all or most of light is being transmitted.
6. What does “translucent” mean? Object is somewhat see-through because some light is being transmitted. An
object on the other side of a translucent material will likely appear fuzzy, without detail.
7. What EM waves have the shortest wavelengths? Gamma rays have the shortest wavelengths
8. What is infrared radiation? Infrared radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation on the electromagnetic
spectrum. It is used to determine heat differences, produce thermographs, and send signals from a TV
remote to the TV.
Astronomy (Chapters 25 and 26)
1. What is the most unusual characteristic of Earth? It has liquid water. No other planet has liquid water.
2. What is the most unusual characteristic of Uranus? It is tilted on its side. We see this because the rings are
vertical, instead of horizontal, like on other planets.
3. What is the most unusual characteristic of Jupiter? Its Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot is a large storm.
4. What is the most unusual characteristic of Saturn? Its large rings.
5. Other than Earth, which planet is most suited for life? Mars
6. What galaxy do we live in? What kind of galaxy is it? We live in the Milky Way galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy.
7. Which planet is furthest from the Sun in our solar system? Neptune
8. What causes a star to die? It runs out of hydrogen, which causes fusion to stop. Without fusion creating
outward pressure, gravity causes the star to start to collapse.
9. What will happen to the Sun when it dies? It will become a red giant, then a planetary nebula, and then a
white dwarf.
10. How did the Sun form? The solar system started out as a nebula, which is a cloud of dust and gas. It gained
enough mass to start to spin and contract. At the center of this, the sun formed because it was hot enough to
start fusion.
11. What color are cool stars? Red
12. What color are the hottest stars? Blue
13. What color are in-between stars? Yellow
14. What is red shift? Red shift is the phenomenon that occurs for galaxies that are moving away from Earth. It is
the shifting of absorption lines on a star’s spectrum toward the red end of the spectrum, which means the
light being produced by those galaxies has a longer (redder) wavelength, which means that galaxy is moving
away from Earth.
15. What is dark matter? Dark matter is matter that is invisible. It is a large part of our universe, but we don’t
know what it is made of. We do know that it keeps galaxies together, so it is very important.
16. What is a binary star? A set of two stars that orbit each other.