Does the medium in which a wave travels move along with the wave itself.
I think the answer is no, but why?
I thought the medium travels horizontally in a wave. Thanks.
The direction the wave moves depends upon the wave. It moves longitudinally (back and forth in the wave direction) with sound, but up and down (transverse) with seismic waves. Near the surface of water, the medium moves in elliptical loops, both up and down and back and forth.
An electron of mass 9.11 10-31 kg has an initial speed of 2.60 105 m/s. It travels in a straight line, and its speed increases to 7.40 105 m/s in a distance of 5.20 cm. Assume its acceleration is constant.
(a) Determine the magnitude of the force exerted on the electron.
1
Your response is off by a multiple of ten. N
(b) Compare this force (F) with the weight of the electron (Fg), which we ignored.
F
Fg
= 2
You are correct, the medium through which a wave travels does not move along with the wave. This is because a wave is a transfer of energy from one point to another through the disturbance of particles or fields in the medium. The particles or fields within the medium oscillate or vibrate in a specific pattern, transferring their energy to neighboring particles or fields.
To understand why the medium does not move with the wave, let's consider an example. Imagine a wave traveling through a string. When a wave is produced in the string by, for example, flicking one end, the disturbance is transmitted through the string in the form of oscillations of the particles in the string. However, the individual particles of the string themselves do not move from one end to the other along with the wave. Instead, they oscillate about their equilibrium positions while passing on the energy of the wave.
This principle applies to other types of waves as well, like sound waves traveling through air or water waves in the ocean. In each case, the particles or fields within the medium vibrate or oscillate, but they do not actually move along with the wave itself.