Question

Explain meaning of the terms compression and rarefaction in relation to a longitudinal wave.

Answer 1

A longitudinal wave propagates by means of compressions and rarefactions.

When a vibrating object moves forward, it pushes and compresses the air in front of it creating a region of high pressure. This region is called a compression (C), as shown in Fig. This compression starts to move away from the vibrating object. When the vibrating object moves backwards, it creates a region of low pressure called rarefaction (R), as shown in Figure .

Compressions are the regions of high density where the particles of the medium come very close to each other and rarefactions are the regions of low density where the particles of the medium move away from each other.