Just had this lesson this afternoon, 06.23.2009. Longitudinal/compressional waves were drawn as a spring. The rarefaction is drawn as the expanded part of the spring and the compression as the compressed part.
I'm unable to draw images, but I can describe a common wave for you. A wave typically consists of a crest (the highest point of the wave), a trough (the lowest point of the wave), amplitude (the height of the wave from the resting position), and wavelength (the distance between two consecutive crests or troughs).
In a transverse wave, the crest of the wave corresponds to the compression of a longitudinal wave, while the trough of the transverse wave corresponds to the rarefaction of a longitudinal wave. Both waves exhibit oscillation or vibration, but the direction in which the particles move is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation in a transverse wave, while it is parallel in a longitudinal wave.
The compression in a longitudinal wave can be thought of as the regions where the particles are closest together, which corresponds to the crest of the wave. This is where the wave is most compacted and has the highest density of particles.
Sound waves are longitudinal.
A compression wave is another name for a longitudinal wave.
Yes, a sound wave is a longitudinal wave.
Longitudinal Wave
A sound wave is indeed a longitudinal wave as opposed to a transverse wave
Yes, sound is a longitudinal wave.
Sound, at least in gases like air, can only propagate as a longitudinal wave.
A longitudinal wave consists of compressions and rarefactions. In a compression, particles are close together, while rarefactions have particles spread out. This wave type propagates in the same direction as the energy transfer.
If the particles of the medium vibrate in the direction of propagation of wave, as in sound waves that's why sound waves are called longitudinal waves.