Have you ever been to the beach and seen the ocean waves? Have you heard the piercing sound of a fire truck or ambulance passing by your house? Or have you heard your voice echo? You have experienced waves!
There are a lot of different waves and different substances will react differently when they encounter a wave. Some materials reflect waves so that the wave bounces back. Some materials absorb the wave so that the wave is no longer visible and has been transferred to a different form of energy. And finally, some materials will transmit the wave by continuing the wave through the new substance.
Let’s think of some examples of these. We encounter reflections of waves when we hear echoes in a cave, the sound moves in a wave away from us until they hit the cave wall and bounce back for us to hear them again. We encounter absorption when we see waves at the beach. When the wave hits the sand of the shore, the wave doesn’t bounce back but just stops. We encounter transmission when we can see light underwater. Light acts as a wave too, and when it encounters a material like water, the wave continues so you can see light while you’re swimming with your goggles in the pool.
In this activity, we will model how waves can behave differently under different environments or mediums. Which materials reflect, absorb, and transmit waves?
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