Mechanical_wave - Wikiparency

# Mechanical wave > On the **[[PORTAL_Acoustics|Acoustics]]** vibration spine · article face [[Acoustics]]. Microsim first, then the physics. ## Microsims — p5.js <div class="microsim-player"> <iframe src="https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/full/Rnmcsvwbo" width="100%" height="620" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin" title="Mechanical wave — p5.js microsim"></iframe> </div> <div class="microsim-fallback"><em>Live p5.js microsim (desktop) · <a href="https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/sketches/Rnmcsvwbo">open / fork the sketch in the p5.js editor</a></em></div> **Mechanical wave (p5.js).** A side-by-side comparison of the two canonical mechanical-wave families. The reader scrubs a single set of sliders for frequency f, amplitude A, and propagation speed c, and watches the same travelling-wave solution y(x,t) = A * sin(k*x - omega*t) animate two stacked panels. The top panel renders particle motion perpendicular to propagation (transverse — string, surface ripple, S-wave); the bottom panel renders particle motion parallel to propagation as colour-coded compressions and rarefactions (longitudinal — sound, P-wave). An audio-gated sine tone at the slider frequency lets the reader hear the same omega that drives the visuals. ## Overview A mechanical wave is a disturbance that propagates through an elastic medium by transferring [[Energy|energy]] from particle to particle without bulk transport of matter. It requires a medium — vacuum cannot carry one — and is fully described by an amplitude A, a frequency f, a wavelength lambda, and a propagation speed c = f * lambda set by the medium's stiffness and [[Density|density]]. Mechanical waves split into two canonical families distinguished by how the particles oscillate relative to the direction of travel: transverse waves, where particle displacement is perpendicular to propagation (string vibrations, S-waves in solids, surface ripples), and longitudinal waves, where particle displacement is parallel to propagation as alternating compressions and rarefactions ([[Sound|sound]] in air, P-waves through [[Earth]]'s mantle, pressure pulses in fluids). Both families obey the same one-dimensional [[Wave|wave]] equation d2y/dt2 = c2 * d2y/dx2, whose travelling-wave solution y(x,t) = A * sin(k*x - omega*t) with k = 2*pi/lambda and omega = 2*pi*f reveals the kinematic identity that unifies the family despite the different microscopic motions. Mechanical waves underlie all of acoustics, much of seismology, every musical instrument, and the haptic intuition behind every wave concept that later generalises to electromagnetic and quantum waves, which propagate without a medium but inherit the same mathematics. ## On the Acoustics spine Neighbours on the vibration spine: [[Sound]] · [[Wave]] · [[Oscillation]] · [[Vibration]] · [[Acoustic_wave]] · [[Plane_wave]]. Bridge portal [[PORTAL_Acoustics]] · index [[PORTAL_INDEX]] · systems root [[PORTAL_Systems]].  **Microsim — three.js (Wikitube framework):** *Mechanical wave* <div class="wt-sim" data-src="https://wikitube-3d-microsims.netlify.app/acoustics/Mechanical_wave.html" data-title="Mechanical wave"></div> *Built from `MICROSIM_GUIDE/specs/acoustics/variants/Mechanical_wave.json`; part of the [[PORTAL_Acoustics|Acoustics portal]] spine (section sims and See-also variants).*  ## Wikipedia : Wikitube **Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_wave) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Mechanical_wave) --- *Repopulated 2026-08-05 · microsim-first transfer from legacy GENERATIVE lane · p5 sciencenibber/Rnmcsvwbo · 0 deletions.*