Parts of a Wave

Have students count crests in each picture to find the frequency. Use a spring toy, if you have one, to show the compressions and rarefactions from the Sound Waves diagram.

Label the crest, trough, wavelength and amplitude, then compare the frequency of two rope waves. The directions on the page read: Read the text. Write the bank word for each numbered part on its line. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade waves and light, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with waves and sound. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Count the waves that pass a point each second. Frequency is measured in hertz, and one hertz means one wave per second, so 2 waves in 1 second is 2 Hz.

In a transverse wave, like a wave on a rope, the rope moves up and down while the wave moves forward. In a longitudinal wave, the particles vibrate back and forth in the same direction the wave travels.

Loudness depends on amplitude, so a larger amplitude sounds louder. Pitch depends on frequency, so a higher frequency makes a higher pitch.