(a) is an example of a longitudinal wave and (b) is an example of a transverse wave.
This month during Science class we have been learning about transverse and longitudinal Waves. Transverse waves are waves that moves the medium at right angles to the direction in which the waves travel. Longitudinal waves are waves that moves the medium parallel to the direction in which the waves travel. Both of these waves have similar characteristics. They both have a crest, which is the high part of a wave, and a trough, which is the low part of a wave. The wave is measured by its amplitude, frequency, wavelength, and speed. In class we did many activities that correspond with waves. Such as using a slinky. When you push the slinky on one side, you can see the wave traveling through to the other side. When we were diagramming transverse waves we used a spring rope. With a partner holding the other side, we moved our hand up and down. Starting slowly, we noticed that it looked like a wave in the ocean. As we speed up, the waves became smaller and they would pass a point more frequently. I learned a lot about waves in the past weeks but when I searched transverse and longitudinal waves, I learned something new. I learned that water waves travel in a clockwise cycle. I also learned about a Rayleigh surface wave. These water waves move in a counter-clockwise cycle but deeper in the wave, it turns into a clockwise motion.
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/waves/wavemotion.html
http://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/physics17/chapter10/slinky.jpg(picture)
