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GCSE Physics · key term
A transverse seismic wave that travels through solids but cannot travel through liquids.
Used by AQA and OCR
Specification 4.6.1.5 · Paper 2
Revise: Seismic Waves and the Structure of the EarthS-waves are transverse: the material vibrates at right angles to the direction the wave travels. They can travel through solid rock, but not through a liquid. This difference makes the two types of wave especially useful together: a region reached by P-waves but not by direct S-waves may contain liquid.
Specification P8.3i · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
A transverse seismic wave in which particles vibrate across the direction of travel; it travels through solids but not liquids.
Revise: Wave detection of hidden structuresP-waves are longitudinal waves: the rock vibrates back and forth along the direction in which the wave travels. They travel through solids and liquids and arrive before the slower S-waves. S-waves are transverse: the rock vibrates across the direction of travel.
Link each observation to an inference: missing direct S-waves indicate liquid material; the pattern of P-wave arrivals helps locate the core boundary.
Do not say that S-waves are merely absorbed by the liquid outer core: they cannot travel through it.
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