A pebble is thrown in a pond, and the water ripples on the surface. Of what type of wave is this an example?
A.

a transverse wave because the vibrations move perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel

B.

a transverse wave because the vibrations move parallel to the wave's direction of travel

C.

a longitudinal wave because the vibrations move perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel

D.

a longitudinal wave because the vibrations move parallel to the wave's direction of travel

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
A.

Ripples on a pond are treated as transverse waves because the water surface moves up and down (perpendicular to the wave's direction). (In reality surface-water particles move in small circular/elliptical paths, so there are both transverse and longitudinal components, but the dominant surface displacement is perpendicular.)