transverse vibrations

American  

plural noun

Physics.

1. periodic disturbances for which the particle oscillations of the medium are perpendicular to the direction of propagation.

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Example Sentences

Thus the transverse vibrations of a circular membrane lead to the theory of Bessel’s Functions; the oscillations of a spherical sheet of air suggest the theory of expansions in spherical harmonics, and so forth.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 "Haller, Albrecht" to "Harmonium" by Various

As transverse vibrations are not propagated through water, it follows that the second part of the shock cannot, as some maintain, have been composed of transverse vibrations.

From A Study of Recent Earthquakes by Davison, Charles

Among material bodies, a solid alone really possesses the rigidity sufficient for the production within it of transverse vibrations and for their maintenance during their propagation.

From The New Physics and Its Evolution by Poincaré, Lucien

The idea of transverse vibrations carried with it another puzzle.

From A History of Science — Volume 3 by Williams, Henry Smith

In stringed instruments we are concerned only with the transverse vibrations of a string—that is, its movements in a direction at right angles to the axis of the string.

From How it Works Dealing in simple language with steam, electricity, light, heat, sound, hydraulics, optics, etc., and with their applications to apparatus in common use by Williams, Archibald