Mechanical Waves

In class on December 22nd, we learned about the two different types of mechanical waves. Mechanical waves are waves that travel through a material medium.The first mechanical wave is the longitudinal wave. A longitudinal wave causes particales to viberate in the same direction as (parallel to) the direction that the wave is traveling. The other wave is a transverse wave. A trasnsverse wave causes particales to viberate in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction that the wave is traveling. To demonstrate theses two waves we used Slinkys and long metal springs. The Slinky was used to show longitudinal waves and the long metal spring was used to show transverse waves. We each had a partner and we took turns trying out the two objects. The Slinky and the metal spring were the mediums. We had to take mental notes on what happened when we moved the Slinky or the metal spring up and down or side to side. I noticed that each time the metal spring moved up, the space between each spiral moved farther apart.