Question

Name the two kinds of waves in the form of which sound travels in a medium.

Answer 1

Hint: The manner in which wave travel can be categorized into two methods which are basically – Longitudinal and Transverse. Every wave travels only in these two manners and it is important to know these methods of flow to understand the wave flow.

Complete answer:
Sound Waves travel in any medium in two forms: Longitudinal and Transverse. In longitudinal waves the motion of particles is parallel to the direction of motion of the wave. We can observe this type of motion quite easily in spring mass problems. As we bind an object to spring and push or pull the spring, we will observe the particle showing an oscillatory motion but it always remains in the direction of movement of spring as in longitudinal wave motion.

On the other hand when we observe wave motion and particle motion in a transverse wave, we observe that particles in the transverse wave show perpendicular motion with direction of motion of the wave.If we compare both motions, we will observe that the particles of transverse waves form crests and troughs, while that of longitudinal waves form bands (light and dark bands).

Note: Besides these wave motion there is a surficial motion of waves. These waves offer a circular motion to the particle and there is no motion observed in the wave. A perfect illustration of these types of waves is the ocean surface.