Waves Key Terms

Question	Answer
Displacement	The displacement of a vibrating particle is its distance and direction from its equilibrium position.
Amplitude	The amplitude of a wave is the maximum displacement of a vibrating particle. For a transverse wave, this is the height of a wave crest or the depth of a wave trough from its equilibrium position.
Wavelength	The wavelength of a wave is the least distance between two adjacent vibrating particles with the same displacement and velocity at the same time (e.g., distance between adjacent crests).
Cycle	One complete cycle of a wave is from maximum displacement to the next maximum displacement (e.g., from one wave peak to the next).
Period	The period of a wave is the time for one complete wave to pass a fixed point
Frequency	The frequency of a wave is the number of cycles of vibrations of a particle per second, or the number of complete waves passing a point per second. The unit of frequency is hertz (Hz)

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	Created by Joseph McAuliffe about 8 years ago