SCIENCE

P-WAVES AND S-WAVES

 CONTENTS

DEFINITION LEARN
1 P-WAVES AND S-WAVES

3 P-WAVES AND S-WAVES

ABOUT READY
2 P-WAVES AND S-WAVES

4 P-WAVES AND S-WAVES

 RELATION BETWEEN S WAVES AND P WAVES

In contrast to the P waves, S waves cannot travel through the Earth’s molten outer core,
and this leads to the creation of a shadow zone for S waves opposite to their origin. Their
propagation can still take place through the solid inner core.

When a P wave strikes, at an oblique angle, the boundary of molten and solid cores at an
oblique angle, the formation and propagation of S waves will take place in the solid
medium. When these waves hit the boundary again at an oblique angle, they will cause the
creation of P waves whose propagation takes place through the liquid medium.
 P-WAVES AND S-WAVES

P-WAVE
A P wave (primary wave or pressure wave) is one of the
two main types of elastic body waves, called seismic
waves in seismology. P waves travel faster than other
seismic waves and hence are the first signal from an
earthquake to arrive at any affected location or at a
seismograph. P waves may be transmitted through gases,
liquids, or solids.
 EXAMPLE OF A P-WAVE

The name P wave can stand for either pressure wave (as it is formed from alternating
compressions and rarefactions) or primary wave (as it has high velocity and is therefore
the first wave to be recorded by a seismograph).The name S wave represents another
seismic wave propagation mode, standing for secondary or shear wave.
 P-WAVE
Almost all the information available on the structure of the Earth's deep interior is derived from observations of the
travel times, reflections, refractions and phase transitions of seismic body waves, or normal modes. P waves travel
through the fluid layers of the Earth's interior, and yet they are refracted slightly when they pass through the transition
between the semisolid mantle and the liquid outer core. As a result, there is a P-wave "shadow zone" between 103° and
142 from the earthquake's focus, where the initial P waves are not registered on seismometers. In contrast, S waves do
not travel through liquids.
S-WAVES
 S-WAVES

In seismology and other areas involving elastic waves, S waves, secondary waves,
or shear waves (sometimes called elastic S waves) are a type of elastic wave and
are one of the two main types of elastic body waves, so named because they move
through the body of an object, unlike surface waves.

S waves are transverse waves, meaning that the direction of particle motion of a S
wave is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation, and the main restoring
force comes from shear stress.Therefore, S waves cannot propagate in liquids with
zero (or very low) viscosity; however, they may propagate in liquids with high
viscosity.
 EXAMPLE OF S WAVES

The name secondary wave comes from the fact that they are the second type of wave to be detected by an earthquake
seismograph, after the compressional primary wave, or P wave, because S waves travel more slowly in solids. Unlike P
waves, S waves cannot travel through the molten outer core of the Earth, and this causes a shadow zone for S waves
opposite to their origin. They can still propagate through the solid inner core: when a P wave strikes the boundary of molten
and solid cores at an oblique angle, S waves will form and propagate in the solid medium. When these S waves hit the
boundary again at an oblique angle, they will in turn create P waves that propagate through the liquid medium. This property
allows seismologists to determine some physical properties of the Earth's inner core.
 QUICK INFO
In 1830, the mathematician Siméon Denis Poisson presented to the French Academy of
Sciences an essay ("memoir") with a theory of the propagation of elastic waves in solids. In his
memoir, he states that an earthquake would produce two different waves: one having a certain
speed and the other having a speed . At a sufficient distance from the source, when they can
be considered plane waves in the region of interest, the first kind consists of expansions and
compressions in the direction perpendicular to the wavefront (that is, parallel to the wave's
direction of motion); while the second consists of stretching motions occurring in directions
parallel to the front (perpendicular to the direction of motion).
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