What is a wavelength and explain it easy not complicated?

Question

Please I would love to know what it is because I hear people talking about wavelenghts and I would like to know what one is!

Answer 1

Wavelength is defined as the distance from a certain place on one wave to the same place on the next wave.

Height of a wave is measured from the midline up or down.

Frequency is waves per second.

Speed of a wave = frequency times wavelength.

Picture a water wave, and the distance to the next crest.

There are many sizes of waves from radio waves to Xrays in the electromagnetc spectrum. Size in this case refers to wavelength. In visible light, wavelength is the color that we see.

Answer 2

Wavelength is the length of a wave...it's that simple.

You measure just like you measure the length of anything, like a desk, a piece of rope, the distance to the nearest galaxy, and so on. Common units of length measure are meters or feet. There are other arcane units of measure, but don't bother with them unless you absolutely have to.

There are two kinds of waves; both have length. There is the translational wave that oscillates up and down like the ripples of water on a pond. More accurately, we say a translational wave is one that oscillates perpendicular to the directioin of travel.

There is also the compression wave that oscillates back and forth like a spring compressing and relaxing. For this one, we say it oscillates parallel to the direction of travel.

To measure their lengths, we simply pick a convenient and easy to identify point on the wave and measure the distance between that point and the next point of the same kind. And that's the length of a wave...a wavelength.

For example, as a translational wave goes up and down, it has crests and troughs, just like water waves do. So it is convenient to measure length from crest to crest. And that, by definition, is the length of a translational wave. On occasions you might want to measure trough to next trough, but the lengths, crest to crest or trough to trough, will be identical.

But compression waves do not have crests or troughs. They do have places where they are fully compressed or fully relaxed. Thus, it is common to measure a compression wavelength from full compression to the next full compression.

And that's all it is, a measure of length between two convenient points on a wave.

Now there are a lot of cool things we can do with a wavelength, call it L. For example, if we are talking about light, a photon going at v = c light speed, will travel one wavelength L at the speed of light.

We all know that velocity (v) times time (t) traveled = distance traveled. In math talk, that can be written as L = vt; so that L = ct when v = c. That means L/c = t, which is the time it takes light to travel a wavelength L. We often call one wavelength a cycle. So t has the units of sec/cycle when L is one wavelength.

But, hey, look at this...c/L = 1/t = f and f has cycle/sec units. And before they started to use the arcane Hertz measure, cycle/sec was known to everyone as "frequency."

And there you have it...wavelength and frequency are related through c = Lf; since c is a constant, this means that to raise the frequency, we have to shorten the wavelength...and vice versa. This is why people are "talking about wavelengths," they are important in optics, radio communications, and everything else that uses electro-magnetic quanta that travel at the speed of light.

Answer 3

Wave length is the length of a wave or try this link
http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=wavelength

Answer 4

in physics, mechanism by which energy is conveyed from one place to another in mechanically propagated waves without the transference of matter. At any point along the path of transmission a periodic displacement, or oscillation, occurs about a neutral position. The oscillation may be of air molecules, as in the case of sound traveling through the atmosphere; of water molecules, as in waves occurring on the surface of the ocean; or of portions of a rope or a wire spring. In each of these cases the particles of matter oscillate about their own equilibrium position and only the energy moves continuously in one direction. Such waves are called mechanical because the energy is transmitted through a material medium, without a mass movement of the medium itself. The only form of wave motion that requires no material medium for transmission is the electromagnetic wave; in this case the displacement is of electric and magnetic fields of force in space.

Typs of waves

Waves are divided into types according to the direction of the displacements in relation to the direction of the motion of the wave itself. If the vibration is parallel to the direction of motion, the wave is known as a longitudinal wave (see Fig. 1). The longitudinal wave is always mechanical because it results from successive compressions (state of maximum density and pressure) and rarefactions (state of minimum density and pressure) of the medium. Sound waves typify this form of wave motion. Another type of wave is the transverse wave, in which the vibrations are at right angles to the direction of motion. A transverse wave may be mechanical, such as the wave projected in a taut string that is subjected to a transverse vibration (see Fig. 2); or it may be electromagnetic, such as light, X ray, or radio waves (see Radio; X Ray). Some mechanical wave motions, such as waves on the surface of a liquid, are combinations of both longitudinal and transverse motions, resulting in the circular motion of liquid particles.

For a transverse wave, the wavelength is the distance between two successive crests or troughs. For longitudinal waves, it is the distance from compression to compression or rarefaction to rarefaction. The frequency of the wave is the number of vibrations per second. The velocity of the wave, which is the speed at which it advances, is equal to the wavelength times the frequency. The maximum displacement involved in the vibration is called the amplitude of the wave

Behavior

The velocity of a wave motion in matter depends on the elasticity and density of the medium. In a transverse wave on a taut string, for example, the velocity depends on the tension of the string and its mass per unit length. The velocity can be doubled by quadrupling the tension, or it can be reduced to one-half by quadrupling the mass of the string. The motion of electromagnetic waves through space is constant at about 300,000 km/sec (about 186,000 mi/sec), or the speed of light. This velocity varies slightly in passage through matter