Waves

 

 

   We have all seen waves.  You may have seen them at the beach or on a pond.  Waves are all around us.  There are water waves, which are easy to see.  There are waves in the air, which we call sound.  There are waves traveling from the sun to the Earth called light and heat.  (Waves can even give you a sunburn if you stay outside too long.) 

    

     Scientists measure waves and put them into categories based on certain characteristics.  One of these is the height of a wave.  Scientists call this the amplitude.  You can imagine this easily when you think of a water wave.  Some days the water is very calm and the waves are small.  These waves have a low amplitude.  Other days when the waves are very high we say that the waves have a high amplitude. 

 

     Scientists also measure the length of a wave.  You can do this with a water wave.  First you can take a picture of the waves.  Looking at the picture you can measure from a peak (top part) of the wave to the next peak.  If you know how big other things like people or boats in the picture are you can figure out how long the wave is.  Scientists and engineers call this length wavelength.