Hey Ray: The many different waves
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The universe is full of waves, and they are not all created equally. Some are mechanical, and others are electromagnetic, even though they are all energy!
Not all waves are created equally. The universe is full of waves. Different types, like sound waves, light waves, radio waves, and waves that travel in water.
These waves fall into different categories. Those categories are mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves. According to NASA, electromagnetic waves do not require a medium to propagate. Mediums are substances or objects that the energy would pass through.
While electromagnetic energy can pass through mediums, it can also pass through the vacuum of space. Electromagnetic waves also travel at the speed of light. I am sure you can guess that light is an electromagnetic wave, UV radiation, and radio waves, too.
Mechanical waves need a medium to pass through. "Medium" is just a fancy way of saying the mechanical wave needs to travel through something. According to NASA, this type of wave is caused by a disturbance or vibration in matter or the medium. Sound waves travel through the air, which is full of molecules.
Those molecules vibrate and bump into each other, transmitting the sound. Sound waves cannot travel space since it is a vacuum and there is no medium to transmit these mechanical waves.
Ocean waves are mechanical waves, too. They're also not just wiggly water! Like sound waves, ocean waves are energy moving through water. This is probably the easiest type of wave to see in action.
Remember, mechanical waves are caused by a disturbance. That disturbance is wind, the tidal forces of the moon and sun, or even an earthquake or volcano. That energy is transmitted through the water. While we can see the waves created, you might not be able to tell that the water itself does not move that much, even though some ocean waves are big.
Just like whipping a rope or a hose, you can see the energy travel through the medium, but the rope or hose does not travel out with the energy. It just moves mostly up and down when the energy is passing through it.
So, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, ocean waves transmit energy, not water.
