Longitudinal waves in a string typically travel an order of magnitude faster than transverse waves on the same string and are only weakly affected by changes in string tension.

As it turns out, there are two directions for light waves to oscillate and, consequently light is a transverse wave.

Period and Frequency The period of a longitudinal wave is the time taken by the wave to move one wavelength. As for transverse waves, the symbol T is used to represent period and period is measured in seconds (s).

Sound waves in air (and any fluid medium) are longitudinal waves because particles of the medium through which the sound is transported vibrate parallel to the direction that the sound wave moves.

A sound wave is called a longitudinal wave because compressions and rarefactions in the air produce it. The air particles vibrate parallel to the direction of propagation.

Signals of different frequencies do add up and make a wave that contains all of the frequencies transmitted, but as long as they are different in frequency they can be separated out by filtering at the receiver, this is how all communication systems work.

What is Interference? Wave interference is the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling along the same medium. The interference of waves causes the medium to take on a shape that results from the net effect of the two individual waves upon the particles of the medium.

When two or more waves meet, they interact with each other. The interaction of waves with other waves is called wave interference. Wave interference may occur when two waves that are traveling in opposite directions meet. The two waves pass through each other, and this affects their amplitude.

What happens when two waves, such as waves on a lake, come from different directions and run into each other? They may have various patterns where they overlap, but each wave continues with its original pattern away from the region of overlap. A student attaches one end of a Slinky to the top of a table.