gelombang transversal

TRANSVERSAL WAVES

A transverse wave is a moving wave that consists of oscillations occurring that are perpendicular(at right angles) to the direction of energy transfer. Examples of transverse waves include seismic S waves and the motion electric and magnetic fields in an electromagnetic plane wave, both of which oscillate perpendicularly to each other as well as to the direction of energy transfer.

An S-wave(secondary wave, or shear wave) is one of the two main types of elastic body waves. These waves move through the body of an object. The S-wave move as a transverse wave. The wave moves through elastic media, and the main restoring force comes from shear effects. These waves are lack divergence and obey the continuity equation for incompressible media. They are the second direct arrival on an earthquake seismogram, coming after the compressional primary wave(p wave) because S-waves travel slower. An S-wave cannot travel through the molten outer core of the Earth, and cause a shadow zone for S-waves opposite to where they originate. They appear in the solid inner core. When a P-wave strikes the boundary of molten and solid cores(Lehmann discontinuity), S-waves will then propagate in the solid medium. And when the S-waves hit the boundary again they will in turn create P-waves. This is used by scientists to study the inner core.

Transverse waves actually produce the majority of the information that we have about the inner core. The rest is equal parts theory and speculation.

The waves are the movement of a distortion of a material or medium, where the individual parts or elements of the material only move back-and-forth, up-and-down, or in a cyclical pattern. The waves requiring a medium are called Mechanical Waves and those which do not require a medium are called Non Mechanical Waves.

Methods of energy propagation in which disturbance propagates with definite velocity without changing its form, is called Mechanical Wave. Energy and momentum propagates by motion of particles of medium. But medium remain at previous position, mass transfer does not take place. Propagation is possible due to property of medium viz. elasticity and inertia. The mechanical waves are basically of two types- Transverse waves

 

 TRANSVERSE WAVES To explain transverse waves, we will again use our example of water waves. Figure 1-3 is a cross section diagram of waves viewed from the side. Notice that the waves are a succession of crests and troughs. The wavelength (one 360 degree cycle) is the distance from the crest of one wave to the crest of the next, or between any two similar points on adjacent waves. The amplitude of a transverse wave is half the distance measured vertically from the crest to the trough. Water waves are known as transverse waves because the motion of the water is up and down, or at right angles to the direction in which the waves are traveling. You can see this by observing a cork bobbing up and down on water as the waves pass by; the cork moves very little in a sideways direction. In figure 1-4, the small arrows show the up-and-down direction the cork moves as the transverse wave is set in motion. The direction the wave travels is shown by the large arrow. Radio waves, light waves, and heat waves are examples of transverse waves.