Two Rivers Guides: Science 6: Waves

Properties of Waves Resources

This LibGuide provides articles and websites for properties of waves for light and sound.

Always begin your research using online research databases because they have the most authoritative information. The articles listed below provide general information. After you have used the research databases, then use websites for your research. Be careful and conduct a website evaluation on every website you look at to make sure the information is accurate. These websites that have already been evaluated. If you are using a Badgerlink research database and get the Whoops page, then click here for directions.

Law of Wave Motion: Gale in Context
This article discusses the law of wave motion, including crests, troughs, wavelength, frequency, and velocity.
Mechanical Waves: Explora for Middle and High School
This article explains the types of mechanical waves and their properties.
Wave: Explora for Middle and High School
This article gives an overview of transverse, mechanical, and longitudinal waves. It also explains rarefaction, compression, medium, and more.
Wavelength: Explore for Middle and High School
This article explains wave characteristics including crest, trough, frequency, amplitude, types, and the electromagnetic spectrum.
Wave Motion: Gale in Context
This article explains the characteristics of a wave, including crest and trough. It also discusses wavelength, frequency, amplitude, transverse and longitudinal waves, sound and light waves, and reflection and refraction.
Waves, in Physics
This article discusses sound and light waves and mediums.
Waves: Britannica School
This article explains transverse and longitudinal waves, amplitude, wavelength, frequency, speed, reflection, and refraction. Click on the purple 1, 2, or 3 to change the reading level.
Waves: Gale in Context
This article gives a basic explanation of waves, frequency, wavelength, and amplitude.
Waves: World Book
This article explains what waves are, and types of waves including transverse and longitudinal. It also discussing how waves move and change through diffraction and reflection and refraction.
Waves Overview: Gale in Context
This article explains mechanical and electromagnetic waves, transverse and longitudinal waves, frequency and amplitude, and the electromagnetic spectrum. It also includes a short video.

Sound

Compression: Explora for Middle and High School
This article explains compression in sound waves.
Different Pitches: DK Findout
This article explains why there are different pitches.
Echo: Funk and Wagnalls
This article explains how an echo is made.
Echo: Scholastic Go
This article explains what an echo is, echolocation, echo devices, and reverberations.
Echo: World Book
This article explains what echos are and how they are used.
Echolocation: Gale in Context
This article explains what echolocation is and how animals use it.
Hertz: World Book
This article explains what a hertz is.
Pitch: World Book
This article explains what pitch is.
Resonance: Scholastic Go
This article explains the phenomena of resonance.
Resonance: Gale in Context
This article explains what resonance is and its effects.
Sound: Britannica School
This article explains how sound is produced and carried, compression, speed, pitch, amplitude, echo, resonance, and more. Click on the purple 1, 2, and 3 to change the reading level.
Sound: Explain That Stuff
This article explains what sound is, how it travels, and how it is measured.
Sound: Funk and Wagnalls
This article explains the physical characteristics of sound including frequency, amplitude, intensity, quality, velocity, refraction, reflection, and interference.
Sound: Scholastic Go
This article explains rarefaction, compression, wavelength, amplitude, resonance, mediums sound travels through, vacuum, reverberation, pitch, and quality.
Sound Waves: Explora for Middle and High School
This article gives an overview of sound waves. It discusses longitudinal and transverse waves, compression, crests, and rarefaction, refraction, resonance, and more.
Sound Waves and the Speed of Sound: Science Reference Center
This article gives a basic explanation of the types of sound waves and their properties.
What us an Echo: DK Findout
This article explains how an echo works.

Light

Light: Britannica School
This article explains light and electromagnetic radiation, sources of light, measuring light, light and matter (opaque, transparent, and translucent), and waves and particles.
Light: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
This article briefly explains the nature and velocity of light.
Light: Scholastic Go
This article explains the nature of light, reflection, refraction, dispersion, Newton's prism experiment and refraction, scattering, color, intensity, diffraction, interference, wave theory, electromagnetic waves, speed, and more.
Light: Scholastic Go
This article explains, at a lower reading level, the nature of light, reflection, refraction, dispersion, Newton's prism experiment and refraction, scattering, color, intensity, diffraction, interference, wave theory, electromagnetic waves, and more.
Light: SIRS
This article explains what light is, reflection, refraction and dispersion, and transverse waves.
Light: Topic Overview: Explora for Middle and High School
This article gives a brief overview of the nature of light, the colors of light, and the sources and importance of light.
Light: World Book
This article explains the sources of light, types of light, properties of waves, electromagnetic waves, how light behaves, and light and measurement.

Light Behavior

Opaque, Transparent, and Translucent
This article explores the properties of light and the polarization of light. Scroll to the 7th page of the article to find the definition of opaque, and the difference between transparent and translucent objects.
Reflection: MAS Ultra School Edition
This article explains the nature and law of reflection.
Reflection: Gale in Context
This article explains bouncing light waves, reflection and colors, and reflection in the atmosphere.
Reflection: Gale in Context
This article explains the laws of reflection, degree and types of reflection, including angle, and refraction.
Reflection and Refraction of Light: Gale in Context
This article explains how light is reflected and refracted. It also discusses angle of reflection and angle of incidence.
Refraction: MAS Ultra School Edition
This article explains the nature and law of refraction.
Refraction: Gale in Context
This article explains how light slows down and speeds up and refraction in the atmosphere.

Light Waves

Electromagnetic Spectrum: Gale in Context
This article discusses the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelength, and frequency.
Electromagnetic Spectrum: World Book
This article explains what the electromagnetic spectrum works.
Electromagnetic Waves: World Book
This article explains electromagnetic waves.
Electronics: Britannica School
This article explains the difference between analog and digital signals.
Fiber Optics: Gale in Context
This article explains how fiber optics work.
Fiber Optics: Gale in Context
This article explains how fiber optics use digital transmissions to send data.
Mechanical Wave: Explora for Middle and High School
This article explains what mechanical waves are, types of mechanical waves, compression, and properties of waves.
Mechanical Waves: World Book
This article explains how waves travel, transverse waves, and characteristics of waves (crest, compression, wavelength, frequency, amplitude, reflection, and refraction).
Spectrum and Spectroscope: SIRS
This article explains the electromagnetic spectrum.
Waves and Wave Motions: Scholastic Go
This article explains longitudinal and transverse waves .