Moving wave that has oscillations perpendicular to the direction of the wave
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Illustration of a simple (plane) transverse wave propagating through an elastic medium in the horizontal direction, with particles being displaced in the vertical direction. Only one layer of the material is shownIllustration of the electric (red) and magnetic (blue) fields along a ray in a simple light wave. For any plane perpendicular to the ray, each field has always the same value at all points of the plane.Propagation of a transverse spherical wave in a 2d grid (empirical model)
In physics, a transverse wave is a wave that oscillates perpendicularly to the direction of the wave's advance. In contrast, a longitudinal wave travels in the direction of its oscillations. All waves move energy from place to place without transporting the matter in the transmission medium if there is one.[1][2] Electromagnetic waves are transverse without requiring a medium.[3] The designation “transverse” indicates the direction of the wave is perpendicular to the displacement of the particles of the medium through which it passes, or in the case of EM waves, the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of the wave.[4]
A simple example is given by the waves that can be created on a horizontal length of string by anchoring one end and moving the other end up and down. Another example is the waves that are created on the membrane of a drum. The waves propagate in directions that are parallel to the membrane plane, but each point in the membrane itself gets displaced up and down, perpendicular to that plane. Light is another example of a transverse wave, where the oscillations are the electric and magnetic fields, which point at right angles to the ideal light rays that describe the direction of propagation.
Transverse waves commonly occur in elastic solids due to the shear stress generated; the oscillations in this case are the displacement of the solid particles away from their relaxed position, in directions perpendicular to the propagation of the wave. These displacements correspond to a local shear deformation of the material. Hence a transverse wave of this nature is called a shear wave. Since fluids cannot resist shear forces while at rest, propagation of transverse waves inside the bulk of fluids is not possible.[5] In seismology, shear waves are also called secondary waves or S-waves.
Transverse waves are contrasted with longitudinal waves, where the oscillations occur in the direction of the wave. The standard example of a longitudinal wave is a sound wave or "pressure wave" in gases, liquids, or solids, whose oscillations cause compression and expansion of the material through which the wave is propagating. Pressure waves are called "primary waves", or "P-waves" in geophysics.
Water waves involve both longitudinal and transverse motions.[6]
physics, a transversewave is a wave that oscillates perpendicularly to the direction of the wave's advance. In contrast, a longitudinal wave travels in...
Mechanical waves can be produced only in media which possess elasticity and inertia. There are three types of mechanical waves: transversewaves, longitudinal...
type of wave is the transversewave, in which the displacements of the medium are at right angles to the direction of propagation. Transversewaves, for...
the plane perpendicular (i.e., transverse) to the radiation's propagation direction. Transverse modes occur in radio waves and microwaves confined to a...
perpendicular to the direction of energy and wave propagation, forming a transversewave. The position of an electromagnetic wave within the electromagnetic spectrum...
such as air, water and solids as longitudinal waves and also as a transversewave in solids. The sound waves are generated by a sound source, such as the...
electromagnetic wave must be a transversewave, where the electric field E and the magnetic field B are both perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation...
pressure waves (longitudinal waves) and shear waves (transversewaves), respectively. In earthquakes, the corresponding seismic waves are called P-waves (primary...
and a transversewave if they are always orthogonal (perpendicular) to it. Often the term "plane wave" refers specifically to a traveling plane wave, whose...
mounted side by side Transversewave, a wave that causes a disturbance in the medium perpendicular to the direction it advances Transverse Island, an island...
The wave impedance of an electromagnetic wave is the ratio of the transverse components of the electric and magnetic fields (the transverse components...
A Crest point on a wave is the maximum value of upward displacement within a cycle. A crest is a point on a surface wave where the displacement of the...
light can be explained by the wave theory if light were a transversewave. Later, Fresnel independently worked out his own wave theory of light and presented...
who was the first to understand that light is a transversewave, when no one realized that the waves were electric and magnetic fields. For the first...
length along the x-axis that is free to be stretched transversely in the y direction. For a harmonic wave traveling to the right along the string, the string's...
theory of waves. A wave can be longitudinal where the oscillations are parallel (or antiparallel) to the propagation direction, or transverse where the...
dispersion on the properties of waves in a medium. A dispersion relation relates the wavelength or wavenumber of a wave to its frequency. Given the dispersion...
the wave propagation. In a transversewave, the atoms vibrate perpendicular to the wave propagation. However, except for isotropic crystals, waves in a...
of elastic body waves, so named because they move through the body of an object, unlike surface waves. S waves are transversewaves, meaning that the...
propagation direction, rather than two polarizations like a transversewave. Thus, longitudinal waves can not explain birefringence, in which two polarizations...
ship or model was at its so-called Hull speed the wave pattern of the transversewaves (the waves along the hull) have a wavelength equal to the length...
with sound, but it can also be a transversewave as with the vibration of a taut string. When applied to a sound wave through a medium of a fluid like...
which has only transversewaves. In dispersive wave phenomena, the speed of wave propagation varies with the wavelength of the wave, which is reflected...
longitudinal wave velocity of 5965 m/s and transversewave velocity of 3750 m/s. Fluids cannot support transversewaves. As a result, transversewave signals...
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