Mechanical wave - Wikipedia Mechanical wave This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2013 ) Ripple in water is a surface wave. A mechanical wave is a wave that is an oscillation of matter, and therefore transfers energy through a medium. While waves can move over long distances, the movement of the medium of transmission -- the material -- is limited. Therefore, the oscillating material does not move far from its initial equilibrium position. Mechanical waves transport energy. This energy propagates in the same direction as the wave. Any kind of wave ( mechanical or electromagnetic ) has a certain energy. Mechanical waves can be produced only in media which possess elasticity and inertia. A mechanical wave requires nonlinear effects such as harmonic generation may occur, and, if large enough, may result in chaotic effects. For example, waves on the surface of a body of water break when this dimensionless amplitude exceeds 1, resulting in a foam on the surface and turbulent mixing. Some of the most common examples of mechanical waves are water waves, sound waves, and seismic waves. There are three types of mechanical waves : transverse waves, longitudinal waves, and surface waves. Contents 1 Transverse wave 2 Longitudinal wave 3 Surface waves 4 Examples 5 References Transverse wave Main article : Transverse wave Transverse waves cause the medium to vibrate at a right angle to the direction of the wave or energy being carried by the medium. Transverse waves have two parts -- the crest and the trough. The crest is the highest point of the wave and the trough is the lowest. The distance between a subsequent crest and a trough is half of wavelength. The wavelength is the distance from crest to crest or from trough to trough. To see an example, move an end of a Slinky ( whose other end is fixed ) to the left - and - right of the Slinky, as opposed to to - and - fro. Light also has properties of a transverse wave, although it is an electromagnetic wave. Longitudinal wave Main article : Longitudinal wave Longitudinal waves cause the medium to vibrate parallel to the direction of the wave. It consists of multiple compressions and rarefactions. The rarefaction is the farthest distance apart in the longitudinal wave and the compression is the closest distance together. The speed of the longitudinal wave is increased in higher index of refraction, due to the closer proximity of the atoms in the medium that is being compressed. Sound is considered a longitudinal wave. Surface waves Main article : Surface wave This type of wave travels along a surface that is between two media. An example of a surface wave would be waves in a pool, or in an ocean, lake, or any other type of water body. There are two types of surface waves, namely Rayleigh waves and Love waves. Rayleigh waves, also known as ground roll, are waves that travel as ripples with motion similar to those of waves on the surface of water. Rayleigh waves are much slower than body waves, roughly 90 % of the velocity of body waves for a typical homogeneous elastic medium. A Love wave is a surface wave having horizontal waves that are shear or transverse to the direction of propagation. They usually travel slightly faster than Rayleigh waves, about 90 % of the body wave velocity, and have the largest amplitude. Examples Ocean waves Sound waves Seismic waves References Jump up ^ Giancoli, D.C. ( 2009 ) Physics for scientists & engineers with modern physics ( 4th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson Prentice Hall. Jump up ^ Giordano, Nicholas ( 2009 ). College Physics : Reasoning and Relationships ( illustrated ed. ). Cengage Learning. p. 387. ISBN 978 - 0 - 534 - 42471 - 8. Extract of page 387 Jump up ^ Towne, Dudley H. ( 2014 ). Wave Phenomena ( illustrated ed. ). Courier Dover Publications. p. 139. ISBN 978 - 0 - 486 - 14515 - 0. Extract of page 139 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mechanical_wave&oldid=853674545 '' Categories : Waves Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from April 2013 All articles needing additional references All Wikipedia articles needing clarification Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bosanski Català Čeština Español فارسی Français Galego हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Nederlands Polski Português Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska Tiếng Việt 中文 11 more Edit links This page was last edited on 6 August 2018, at 08 : 09 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what type of wave is the light mechanical or electromagnetic
Answer: electromagnetic