page_title: Wave
section_title: Physical properties
hierarchical_section_title: Wave / Physical properties
caption_attribution_description: English: Light dispersion of a mercury-vapor lamp with a prism made of flint glass Deutsch: Dispersion vom Licht einer Quecksilberdampflampe mithilfe eines Prismas aus Flintglas
context_page_description: In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance of one or more quantities, sometimes as described by a wave equation. In physical waves, at least two field quantities in the wave medium are involved. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium value at some frequency. When the entire waveform moves in one direction it is said to be a traveling wave; by contrast, a pair of superimposed periodic waves traveling in opposite directions makes a standing wave. In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibration has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero.
  The types of waves most commonly studied in classical physics are mechanical and electromagnetic. In a mechanical wave, stress and strain fields oscillate about a mechanical equilibrium. A mechanical wave is a local deformation in some physical medium that propagates from particle to particle by creating local stresses that cause strain in neighboring particles too. For example, sound waves are variations of the local pressure and particle motion that propagate through the medium.
context_section_description: Waves exhibit common behaviors under a number of standard situations, for example:
caption: Light beam exhibiting reflection, refraction, transmission and dispersion when encountering a prism
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