Question

Give two similarities and one difference between mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves.

Answer 1

First, explain what a wave is, what a mechanical wave is, and what an electromagnetic wave is.

Wave: a disturbance (perturbation, pulse) that transport energy but not matter. They can translate either longitudinally (longitudinal waves) or transversally (transverse waves).

Mechanical waves: waves that need a medium to travel (transport its energy.

Examples of mechanical waves are: sound (longitudinal wave), water waves (transverse waves), rope wave (transverse waves), slinky waves (may be both transverse and longitudinal waves).

Electromagnetic waves: waves that can travel in the vacuum.

They are produced by the vibration of charged particles and are always transverse waves.

Examples of electromagnetic waves are: visible light, microwaves, ultraviolet waves, infrared waves, among other.

Now, you can understand these similarities and differences:

Similarities:

- Both can travel in the air and water.

- Both transfer energy (all waves to that)

Differences:

- Mechanical waves do not travel in empty space; electromagnetic waves do.

- Electromagnetic waves (light) slow down when pass from air to water (refraction of light); some mechanical waves (sound) speed up when pass from air to water.

Answer 2

Mechanical waves need matter to transfer energy, while electromagnetic waves do not, they can travel through space, or a vaccum. Electromagnetic waves include the electromagnetic spectrum (This includes visible light, radio waves, gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet rays, infra-red waves, and microwaves.They both are able to travel through a medium of gas, liquid, or solid.