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GCSE Physics · key term
The back-and-forth movement of an object or part of a material about its resting position.
Used by Edexcel and OCR
Specification 4.12P · Paper 1
Revise: Sound Conversion and HearingA sound begins with a vibration. When a guitar string is plucked, it moves back and forth and disturbs the air beside it. That disturbance travels through the air as a sound wave: the air particles vibrate, but the air itself does not travel all the way from the guitar to the listener.
Specification P5.1e · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
Repeated movement back and forth about a rest position.
Revise: Transverse vs longitudinalIn a transverse wave, the vibration is at right angles to the direction of travel. Imagine a slinky stretched horizontally. Move one end up and down: the disturbance travels along the slinky, while its coils move up and down.
State both directions when comparing waves: the direction of travel and the direction of vibration.
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