Transverse waves:

The waves go one way, the vibration goes up and down at 90 degrees

Traverse waves can happen

through the Earth’s rock:
Earthquake waves called ‘S’
This is a transverse wave. waves are transverse waves.
You have to be able to label all the parts.
Can you?

This is 2 transv
erse waves to
One is an elec gether:
trical wave.
One is magnet
ic wave.
So we call it an
ElectroMagn
etic wave.
There are
lots of ele
have split ctromagn
them into eti
They all g 7 bits... bu c waves, and we
o at the s t more of
ame spee them late
d: 300 00 r.
0 000 m/s

These sea w
aves are
These are waves on th They can be quite big. (they transverse
e waves.
surface of the sea... have a “large amplitude”)

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 1

 Longitudinal waves:
The waves go one way, the vibration goes back and forward

Sound is a
longitudinal wave.
u have to Some Ea
lo ngitu dinal wave yo rthquake
To mak e a forwards, waves ar
som ethi ng backwards and longitud
in
e
vibrate n. They are al.
not up and dow travel fa
called ‘P
wa
ster than ves’ and
‘S waves
’.

So, we
scans use them i
Humans can’t hear so to che n
unds made faster ck on pre-natal
than 20 000 vibration foeta (“befo
s a second. We call the fo l de re
them‘Ultrasound’. etus d velopmen birth”)
oing? t (‘ho
They are used in medi ’). w is
cine to scan
harmlessly inside th
e body...

Ships can use ultrasound reflected off the sea

bed or bunches of fish (‘shoals of fish’).
Scientists use the same idea to map the shap
e of he sea bed.

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 2

 Transverse waves: Electromagnetic
Spectrum

Back to those electromagnetic waves... Are they transverse - yes...Do they all go at the same speed - yes
We split them into 7 groups...

We could have calle

Radio Waves... Long d them TV e radio waves
est waves... but we di Astronomers us
waves... Least danger dn’t invent n to the
ous the TV until afte to look and liste
r the radio. Universe
So, TVs ‘use’ radi
o waves

ler...
are a bit smal
Microwaves d
of a han
about the size

Mobile phones use them... they’re not

dangerous cause water
tes use them be
(as far as we can tell so far...) Weather satelli es (like
sorb microwav
in rain clouds ab ur food).
icrowaves in yo
water absorbs m

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 3

 Transverse waves: Electromagnetic
Spectrum

Here’s a toaster,
Infra Red is given off Oddly, remote controls use photographed with a camera
(“emitted”) by all objects. small amounts of them that can ‘see’ infra red...
Hotter objects give off more...

We can’t see Infra red

And here’s a shoe that has jus with our eyes, but
t been taken we can make stuff that
off... it’s still warm allows us to see
warm things...

...and this is And Infra red is als

what warm stuff lo o used to treat
oks like... some muscle injurie
s.

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 4

 Transverse waves: Electromagnetic
Spectrum

c waves
The only electromagneti Next is Ultra
Violet (‘furth
es is
you can see with your ey on than viole er
sible light’. t’)
what we call ‘vi Camera’s
Bank notes ca
n be checked
. rem em ber KS3 detect the
Huh? ROYGBIV.. m with a UV lam
p...
colours...?

And of co
urse, you
can top u
p your
tan with
a UV sun
bed.
But don’t
complain
about th
e
dangerou
s skin
burns an
possible d
cancers..
.
Protect your va
luable
items?... use sp
ecial inks that
can only shine
when UV light
is used...

X-rays pass through muscle easily, but

bones absorb them... So, that’s why they are
used in hospitals to make images of what’s
happening inside your body without cutting
you open...
Gamma rays can do the same, but they can also
kill cells. They’re the most dangerous. But
because of that they can be used to sterilise stuff
by killing bacteria.

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 5

 Refraction & Reflection

Waves cha
nge directi
when they on
go into a n
material... e w
Changing
direction
like this is
called Refr
action.

ge direction
e w aves also chan
Earthqu ak h’s insides.
ey go through the Eart
when th

Waves, including light,

also get
reflected from the inside
surface of
materials... This is called Internal
(‘inside’) reflection

s look
Internal reflection do
esn’t This is how fibre optic
light is
happen totally to all the
light so pretty - all the ...And we use this
ds of
until it hits the inside su
rface at a trapped inside after loa fastest communic
to make the
on s...
big enough angle - the
critical Total Internal Reflecti networks: signal
ations
angle. Then all light bo s made of
unces off light trapped insid
the inside... e bendable
fibres.

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 6

 Analogue & Digital Waves

used less today for

Analogue transverse waves are
communications.
Instead we use digital waves, or signals.
Why?
g for kilometres of
They pick up less ‘noi after goin
se’
can be ‘cleaned up’ more
cable, and the noise they pick up
easily to leave the proper signal.
tion (think ‘red button’
They can also carry more informa
ible with analogue
on your TV... this service is imposs
signals)

BIT...
THE MATHS

Using Distance = Speed × time ships can work

It takes time for all waves to go out how far the sea bed is underneath them...
from one place to another. How?... they’ll already know the speed of the
Use the KS3 formula when you waves they reflect off the sea bed... all they have
need to... to do is time the echo and do some maths

Frequency is a num
ber. It is the answer
question: How man to this
y waves are there ea
ch
second?
You’l have to learn this Wavelength? measu
re this from a pictur
formula... doesn’t happen in th e if it
e question...

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 7

 Earthquakes & Seismic Waves

rth?
ts of the Ea
r
the pa R core
So, the top bit is the crust, but
o n’t know arn them. INNE it isn’t one bit. It’s lots of
D Le ore -
TER c
antle - OU cracked up bits.
T-M These bits are ‘plates’.
CRUS

know the
All seismic waves refract (‘bend’) as they go through the earth. This is why we
insides are denser, different materials.

Weird
l
When the plates rub, throu y, one seism
gh liq ic wav
notice u
vibrations happen. they c ids (the ‘S’ e can’t tra
Earth a w v
We call them Earthquakes. ’s ins n’t get thr aves). We el
The waves from the vibrations of the ides. ou gh a lso
Earth That’s a
we ca why w part of the
are called seismic waves.
outer e know par
ll the
core i
s a liq t
uid.

Some waves are longitudinal -

‘P’
waves. They’re fastest. They get
around the earth first, so we call
them primary (‘first’) waves.

Some waves are transverse - ‘S’

waves. They’re slower. They get
around the earth after ‘P’ waves’,
so we call the secondary waves.

Now you See It Now You Don’t Summary in Pictures, Page 8