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What medium do P waves travel through?

Updated: 8/10/2023
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13y ago

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As a wave moves through different materials, different phenomena occur: Geometrical spreading, Absorption, Reflection/Refraction, and Diffraction

Geometrical Spreading: Wave spreads over a larger surface as it travels through the medium. For a spherical wave, the wave energy falls off as the square of the distance.

Absorption: A part of wave energy is dissipated into the earth as heat. Wave energy falls off exponentially with distance.

Reflection/Refraction: When a wave encounters an interface between two layers, part of its energy is reflected back. The other part is refracted (transmitted) into the other medium.

Diffraction: It occurs when wave encounters sharp discontinuities in the medium.

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11y ago
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P waves can travel through solids, liquids, and gases.

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It can travel through seismec waves.

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Rock, soil, and sometimes water.

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rocks

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Rocks

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Water

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Q: What medium do P waves travel through?
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What can p waves travel through?

S waves usually travel through most things and are felt as the massive shocks after an earthquake. At times the radiation caused by these s waves may cause green pigmentation in your skin. Therefore, s waves are able to travel through skin. On one occasion, s waves were observed to have travelled through dirt, and the endoplasmic reticulum of the element water. In response to your question, s waves seem to generally be able to travel on earth. But due to the gravitational inertia of the Earth's spin, s-waves can travel in symmetric circular paths meaning that dipoles of the magnetic field on Earth will cancel and results in a non-polar s wave.


How fast a wave travels through a medium?

P waves travel about 1 to 5 miles per second. It depends on what they are traveling thru. They will travel thru solids, liquids, and gasses.


What is a medium in which waves travel through?

The medium of a wave is the matter a wave travels through.So yeah, if you wiggle a rope, the medium isn't the air around the rope... the medium is the rope itself!


What are psl waves?

P= PressureS= SurfaceL= Rollingthe 3 main types of earthquakes- they go in order from less to more damaging.The below is from SCI 3 (science text book) and if your talking about earthquake waves:P waves are Primary waves and come firstS waves are secondary waves and come secondP and S waves goes through the earthL waves are Love waves and comes lastR waves are Rayleigh waves and comes thirdL and R waves travel on the surface


What are the differences between s waves p waves and surface waves?

P-waves are Primary waves initially released from the Focus of an earthquake. A P-wave is a longitudinal wave or a compression wave with the force applied in the direction that the wave is travelling. These waves compress and expand and are called primary waves because they are the first waves to reach the seismometer.S-waves are secondary waves that vibrate in a transversedirection (from side and side as well as up and down). S-waves are not able to travel through liquids unlike P-waves.P and S-waves are known collectively as body waves because they travel within materials.Surface waves on the other hand travel along the outer surface of a material and are split into two main types, the Love wave and the Rayleigh wave.Surface waves cause high amplitude motions of the Earth's surface and are the most damaging to buildings.

Related questions

What state of matter do P and S waves travel through?

P waves can travel through all types of matter. S waves can only travel through solids.


Can s-waves travel through liquid?

P-waves are type of elastic wave, also called seismic waves, that can travel through gases (such as sounds), elastic solids and liquids, including the Earth. P-waves can be produced by earthquakes and recorded by seismometers. The name P-wave stands for primary wave, as the P-wave is the fastest among the elastic waves, compared to the S-waves.(Sources Wikipedia). Hope that helps! :D


A seismogram shows that p waves travel?

P waves travel through solids, liquids, and gases. it is the fastest of all the waves.


What types of waves are P and S waves?

P-Wave is a Primary Wave. It goes through land and water. S-Wave is a Secondary Wave. It only goes through land. They are both seismic waves. Strictly speaking they are both seismic body waves - they ravel through a specific medium rather than along a surface. P-waves are longitudinal / compression waves whereas S-waves are transverse / shear waves. Because of this P waves can travel through solids, liquids and gasses whereas S-waves can only travel through solids.


What earthquake waves travel through solids?

P waves or primary waves.


What does a medium seismic wave travel through?

Seismic waves are vibrations generated by an earthquake. They travel along the surface of the Earth and through the earth. They are a type of wave known as a mechanical wave and as such (unlike electromagnetic waves) require a medium through which to travel. Seismic waves can be split into body and surface waves. The body waves can be split into two main types, the P-wave or primary wave which is a compression or longitudinal wave which can travel through solids, liquids and gasses and the S-wave which is a transverse or shear wave and can only travel through solids.


What type of waves travel through earth's interior?

p-waves


Where do P waves travel fastest?

Generally everywave will travel the fastest through solids. These waves include sound, and other vibrational waves. But Electro Magnetic Radiation wave along with light will slow down and can very well change direction mid stream. They travel quite fast through slate


Which type of waves can travel through earth's outer cores?

Primary waves ( P-waves) can travel through earth's outer core.


What can s waves not travel through?

S-waves cannot travel through liquids, but they can travel through solids and gases. P-waves can travel through solids, liquids and gases. Hope this helped! :D


How have scientists determined that the outer layer is liquid?

Seismic waves can be separated into basically two different types; S-waves and P-waves. P-waves are able to travel through liquid and solid, but S-waves can not travel through a liquid, they can only travel through a solid. When scientist "shoot" P and S-waves at the outer core, they detect the P-waves coming out the other side, but not the S-waves.


What does P waves travel through?

Gasses, solids and liquids :P