What type of Waves travel through Water?
Both longitudinal and transverse waves can travel through water.
How do Longitudinal Waves travel through Water?
Longitudinal
waves travel through water
underneath the surface.
This is under water sound and it can be used
by
fishing boats for echo
location and by
sea creatures
(for example whales including
dolphins) to communicate.
How do Transverse Waves travel through Water?
Transverse waves
travel on the water surface and these
are the
waves which we
see as they make the surface go up and
down.
Transverse water
waves are shown as a series of
parallel lines.
See the picture below. These parallel lines
represent the
peaks of the
wave, as you are looking down on
them from
above.
Transverse water
waves can be used to show
the effects of reflection,
refraction
and diffraction.
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