Waves crossing boundaries

SP13.2w Homework 1
Name Class Date

1 Draw lines to match each word with its meaning.

1 absorb 3 when a wave changes direction as it passes from one medium to another

2 reflect 4 when a wave passes through a material and is not absorbed or reflected

3 refract 2 when a wave bounces off something

4 transmit 1 when the energy carried by a wave transfers to the material it hits or is
passing through

2 What is happening to light in each of these situations? Use the four key words from question 1.
a Transmit
A driver uses her mirror to check the traffic behind. _________________________________________
b refraction
You cannot clearly see the position of a watch you dropped in a swimming pool. __________________
c reflection
The noise from the corridor gets much quieter when Mr Jones closes the door. ___________________
d absorb
Jane squinted at the bright sunlight coming through the window. ______________________________
3 Danny likes playing his trumpet in the bathroom, because it sounds much louder than when he plays it in
his bedroom. Complete the following sentences to explain why this is so, using words from the box. You
can use each word once, more than once or not at all.
absorbed
When Danny plays his trumpet, the sound is _______________ by the air around him. Some of the sound
reflected
is _______________ by the tiled walls. Danny’s mum is in the bedroom next door and she can hear him,
transmitted
because some of the sound is _______________ through the walls.

transmit
When Danny plays in the bedroom, the walls still _______________ reflect
and _______________ some of the
absorb
sound, but the soft things in the room, such as the carpet and curtains, _______________ a lot of the
sound.

absorb absorbed reflect reflected refract refracted transmit transmitted

4 Fill in the gaps in the labels on the diagram below.

transmitted
refraction

slows down speeds up

frequency frequency
wavelength
wavelength

You may find the following words and phrases useful for question 4. You will need some of the words more
than once.

frequency refraction slows down speeds up transmitted wavelength

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