transverse wave

The diagram illustrates the motion of a transverse wave. Light waves are examples of transverse waves: they undulate at right angles to the direction of travel and are characterized by alternating crests and troughs. Simple water waves, such as the ripples produced when a stone is dropped into a pond, are also examples of transverse waves.

Wave in which the displacement of the medium's particles, or in electromagnetic waves the direction of the electric and magnetic fields, is at right angles to the direction of travel of the wave motion.

Various methods are used to reproduce waves, such as a ripple tank or a rope, in order to understand their properties. If one end of a rope is moved in an up and down motion (the other end being fixed), a wave travels along the rope. The particles in the rope oscillate at right angles to the direction of the wave, moving up and down as the wave travels along the rope. This is known as a transverse wave. The rope remains as it was after the wave has travelled along the rope; waves carry energy from one place to another but they do not transfer matter. Examples of transverse waves are water waves and electromagnetic waves.