AQA GCSE Physics (8463), Higher tier · Waves › Waves in air, fluids and solids
Practise Transverse and longitudinal waves. 12 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
Cover the answers and test yourself. The app has these as flashcards that come back just before you'd forget them.
The student then moves the end of the spring from side to side, at right angles to the length of the spring. This produces a transverse wave. Give one other example of a transverse wave.
Ripples on the surface of water (or any electromagnetic wave).
Maya drops a small cork into a still pond. Maya then throws a stone into the pond 3 m away from the cork. Ripples spread out across the surface of the water and pass the cork. Describe the motion of the cork as the ripples pass it.
The cork bobs up and down but stays in the same place.
Sound travelling through air is a longitudinal wave. State the direction of the oscillations of the air particles, relative to the direction the sound wave travels.
Parallel to the direction of travel.
A guitarist plucks a string. Waves travel along the string, which vibrates from side to side. The vibrating string makes the surrounding air vibrate, producing a sound wave that travels to a listener's ear. State the type of wave that travels along the string.
Transverse
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of AQA exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy6 marks
A student uses a long spring stretched along a bench to model two types of wave.
(a) The student moves one end of the spring backwards and forwards along the length of the spring. What type of wave does this produce? Tick (✓) one box.[1]
Electromagnetic
Longitudinal
Transverse
(b) The student then moves the end of the spring from side to side, at right angles to the length of the spring. This produces a transverse wave. Give one other example of a transverse wave.[1]
(c) Describe the difference between a longitudinal wave and a transverse wave.[2]
(d) In a longitudinal wave on the spring, there are regions where the coils are closer together than normal and regions where the coils are further apart than normal. Name these two types of region.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Longitudinal
(b)Answer: Ripples on the surface of water (or any electromagnetic wave).
ripples on the surface of water / any electromagnetic wave, e.g. light / waves on a string / S-waves
(c)Answer: In a longitudinal wave the oscillations are parallel to the direction of energy transfer; in a transverse wave they are perpendicular to it.
longitudinal: the oscillations are parallel to the direction of energy transfer
transverse: the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer
(d)Answer: Closer together: compression. Further apart: rarefaction.
(coils closer together:) compression(s)
(coils further apart:) rarefaction(s)
Question 2Medium6 marks
Maya drops a small cork into a still pond. Maya then throws a stone into the pond 3 m away from the cork. Ripples spread out across the surface of the water and pass the cork.
(a) Describe the motion of the cork as the ripples pass it.[1]
(b) Explain how the motion of the cork shows that it is the wave, and not the water, that travels across the pond.[2]
(c) A candle flame is placed a few centimetres in front of a loudspeaker. When the loudspeaker plays a loud, low-pitched note, the flame moves backwards and forwards but it is not blown away from the loudspeaker. Explain what this shows about the sound wave travelling through the air.[3]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: The cork bobs up and down but stays in the same place.
it moves up and down (in the same place) / it is not carried along with the ripples
(b)Answer: The cork, and the water it floats on, only oscillates about a fixed point, so the water does not move across the pond; only the wave (energy) does.
the cork (and the water around it) only oscillates about a fixed position
so the water is not carried across the pond; the wave transfers energy without transferring the water
(c)Answer: The air oscillates backwards and forwards along the direction the sound travels (a longitudinal wave), but the air is not carried away from the loudspeaker; only the wave travels.
the air (particles) oscillate / vibrate backwards and forwards
parallel to the direction of energy transfer / sound is a longitudinal wave
the air itself does not travel away from the loudspeaker; only the wave (energy) travels through the air
Question 3Hard4 marks
A student says: ‘Sound and light are basically the same kind of wave, because both travel from a source to an observer, both can be reflected, and both carry energy.’
Evaluate this statement, using ideas about how the two waves transfer energy.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
Answer: They are different: sound is longitudinal and needs a medium; light is transverse and can travel through a vacuum. Sharing some general behaviours does not make them the same type of wave.
sound is a longitudinal wave: the particles of the medium oscillate parallel to the direction of energy transfer
light is a transverse wave: the oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer
sound needs a medium (particles) to travel through, but light, as an electromagnetic wave, can travel through a vacuum
so although both transfer energy from a source to an observer and can both be reflected, they are fundamentally different types of wave