what is wave motion and its charecter
Answers
Wave motion is a disturbance that moves from place to place in some medium, carrying energy with it. Probably the most familiar example of wave motion is the action of water waves. A boat at rest on the ocean moves up and down as water waves pass beneath it. The waves appear to be moving toward the shore. But the water particles that make up the wave are actually moving in a vertical direction. The boat itself does not move toward the shore or, if it does, it's at a much slower rate than that of the water waves themselves.
The energy carried by a water wave is obvious to anyone who has watched a wave hit the shore. Even small waves have enough energy to move bits of sand. Much larger waves can, of course, tear apart the shore and wash away homes.
Any wave can be fully characterized by describing three properties: wavelength, frequency, and amplitude. Like any wave, a water wave appears to move up and down in a regular pattern. The highest point reached by the wave is known as the wave crest; the lowest point reached is the wave trough (pronounced trawf).
The distance between any two adjacent (next to each other) wave crests or any two adjacent wave troughs is known as the wavelength of the wave. The wavelength is generally abbreviated with the Greek letter lambda, λ . The number of wave crests (or wave troughs) that pass a given point per unit of time (usually per second) is known as the frequency of the wave. Frequency is generally represented by the letter f. The highest point reached by a wave above its average height is known as the amplitude of the wave. The speed at which a wave moves is the product of its wavelength and its frequency, or, v = λ f.
Two kinds of waves most commonly encountered in science are sound waves and electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic radiation includes a wide variety of kinds of energy, including visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared radiation, X rays, gamma rays, radar, microwaves, and radio waves. As different as these forms of energy appear to be, they are all alike in the way in which they are transmitted. They travel as transverse waves with the same velocity, about 3 × 10 10 centimeters (1.2 × 10 10 inches) per second, but with different wavelengths and frequencies.