mechanical wave

Meaning

1. 1nouncountablephysics

   A disturbance that carries energy through a material such as air, water or a solid, and cannot travel through empty space.

   Grammar: Usually countable: one mechanical wave, several mechanical waves.

   Patterns

   • a mechanical wave in something
   • a mechanical wave travels through something

   Sound is a mechanical wave because it needs air or another material to travel through.

   When you shake a rope, you send a mechanical wave along its length.

   Earthquakes produce mechanical waves that move through the ground.

Word forms

Common combinations

transverse mechanical wave

In a transverse mechanical wave, the particles move at right angles to the direction of travel.

longitudinal mechanical wave

Sound in air is a longitudinal mechanical wave.

generate a mechanical wave

The speaker cone vibrates to generate a mechanical wave in the air.

mechanical wave speed

Mechanical wave speed depends on the stiffness and density of the medium.

propagate a mechanical wave

Water can propagate a mechanical wave over long distances.

Synonyms and how they differ

elastic wave

This is more specialized and is often used for waves in solids, such as seismic waves, while mechanical wave covers every material.

sound wave

This names one very common kind of mechanical wave, not the whole group.

vibration

This describes the back-and-forth motion itself, not the traveling disturbance that carries energy outward.

Opposites

Word family

mechanically adverb

in a way that involves machines or physical motion

mechanics noun

the branch of physics dealing with motion and forces

wave noun

a moving disturbance that carries energy

waveform noun

the shape of a wave when graphed

Commonly confused: mechanical wave or electromagnetic wave?

Practice

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