Waves - Longitudinal Waves

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Longitudinal Waves

Longitudinal waves are waves where the oscillations of the wave are parallel to the direction of travel

Mechanical longitudinal waves are also known as compression waves because they compress the particles of the medium together when they travel

An example of a longitudinal wave is a sound wave

Make your own!!

You can make you own longitudinal wave using a slinky and two people

Each person holds on end of the slinky, one person stays completely still, and the other moves the slinky forwards and backwards .

This creates a transverse wave travelling towards the other person!

The places where the springs are close together are where compression occurs, and the places where the springs are spread apart are the where rarefaction occur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aguCWnbRETU (Embed)

Longitudinal Waves