Name Date Class

Characteristics of Waves ■
Adapted Reading and Study

What Are Waves? (pages 6–10)

Waves and Energy (pages 7–8)

Key Concept: Mechanical waves are produced when a

source of energy causes a medium to vibrate.
• A wave is a type of movement that carries energy from
place to place. Energy is what you need to do work. If
you shake one end of a rope up and down, a wave
travels through the rope. The wave in the rope carries
energy from your hand.
• A mechanical wave is a wave that must have material
to travel through. The material a mechanical wave
travels through is called the medium. A wave in a rope
is a mechanical wave, and the rope is the medium.
• A mechanical wave starts with a vibration. A vibration
is a repeated up-and-down or back-and-forth
movement. The vibration that starts a rope wave is the
up-and-down movement of your hand.

Answer the following questions. Use your textbook and the

ideas above.
1. Is the following sentence true or false? Waves that
must have material, such as rope, to travel through are
called mechanical waves.

2. Is the following sentence true or false? A wave carries

the medium from place to place.

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Name Date Class

Characteristics of Waves ■
Adapted Reading and Study

3. Read the words in the box. In each sentence below, fill

in one of the words.

Characteristics of
wave medium energy

Waves
vibration

a. A repeated up-and-down or back-and-forth

movement is a(an) .
b. A type of movement that carries energy from place
to place is a(an) .
c. The material a mechanical wave travels through is
called the .

Types of Waves (pages 8–10)

Key Concept: Mechanical waves are classified by how

they move. There are two types of mechanical waves:
transverse waves and longitudinal waves.
• Transverse waves move the medium up and down. A
wave in a rope is a transverse wave.
• Longitudinal (lawn juh TOO duh nul) waves move the
medium back and forth. A wave in a spring toy is a
longitudinal wave.

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5
Name Date Class

Characteristics of Waves ■
Adapted Reading and Study

Answer the following questions. Use your textbook and the

ideas on page 5.
4. Fill in the blanks in the table about types of mechanical
waves.

Types of Mechanical Waves

Type of Wave How it moves Example

the Medium

Transverse a. wave in a rope

b. back and forth slower

5. The pictures show a transverse wave and a longitudinal

wave. Which is the transverse wave, and which is the
longitudinal wave?
a.
b.

a.

b.

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6