BRAINCAKEEnergy Transfer by Waves
A progressive wave is an oscillation that travels through a medium, or through a vacuum for electromagnetic waves, and transfers energy from one place to another without transferring matter.
As a water wave passes, a floating cork bobs up and down but does not travel along with the wave. Each particle of the medium oscillates about its fixed equilibrium position and passes energy on to the next particle, so the disturbance moves along while the particles stay where they are.
Mechanical waves, such as sound, water waves and waves on a string, need a medium. Electromagnetic waves, such as light and radio waves, are oscillating electric and magnetic fields and can travel through a vacuum, which is how energy from the Sun reaches the Earth.
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More in Waves
- Wave Measurements
- Investigating the Speed of Sound
- Pulse Echo Measurements
- Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
- Earthquakes
- Phase and Phase Difference
- Superposition
- Interference
All 22 lessons in Waves · All Edexcel AS-level Physics topics