elastic wave

noun

Physics.

1. a wave propagated by the elastic deformation of a medium.

Word History and Origins

Origin of elastic wave¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

The first wave, called an elastic wave, temporarily deformed the crystal; its atoms bounced back into their original positions right away, like a rubber band that's been stretched and released.

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As preseismic slip is a precursor to rupture, temporal variations in elastic wave speeds should be monitored in regions of high seismic hazard.

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If we suppose, for illustration sake, such an elastic wave transmitted perpendicularly through a mass of glass plates, each indefinitely thin, and all in absolute contact with each other, but without adhesion or friction, more or less of the transversal vibration of the wave would be cut off and lost at each transit from plate to plate, as the elastic compression can, by the conditions, be transmitted only normally or by direct push perpendicularly from plate to plate.

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Incidentally also it was shown that from the observed elements of the movement of the elastic wave of shock at certain points—by suitable instruments—the position and depth of the focus, or centre of impulse, might be inferred.

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Those experiments were made by producing an impulse at one end of an accurately measured base line, by the explosion of gunpowder in the formation experimented upon, and noting the time the elastic wave generated required to pass over that distance, upon a nearly level surface.

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