Definition: Waves that need a medium (like air, water, or a solid) to travel.
Formation: Caused by vibrations or oscillations within a material medium.
Key Aspects:
Types: Can be either transverse or longitudinal.
Speed: Their speed depends on the physical properties of the specific medium they are traveling through (e.g., density, elasticity).
Vacuum: Cannot travel through a vacuum.
Examples: Sound waves, water waves, seismic waves.
Electromagnetic Waves
Definition: Waves that do not require a medium to travel.
Formation: Produced by changes in electric and magnetic fields.
Key Aspects:
Types: Always transverse waves.
Speed: Travel at the speed of light (3.0×108 m/s) in a vacuum. Their speed changes when traveling through transparent mediums, depending on the medium’s refractive index.
Vacuum: Can travel through a vacuum.
Examples: Radio waves, microwaves, light waves, X-rays.
