Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
P-wave .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Two kinds of body waves exist: P-waves and S-waves.
Earthquake 2010
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These waves are slower than P-waves and can only move through solid materials.
Earthquake 2010
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P-waves or primary waves are formed by the alternate expansion and contraction of bedrock and cause the volume of the material they travel through to change.
Earthquake 2010
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When some P-waves move from the ground to the lower atmosphere, the sound wave that is produced can sometimes be heard by humans and animals.
Earthquake 2010
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P-waves also have the ability to travel through solid, liquid, and gaseous materials.
Earthquake 2010
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P-waves are "pressure" or "compressional" waves, which vibrate back and forth along the line of motion.
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P-waves travel faster than S-waves, allowing seismologists to use the lag between the arrival of the two sets of waves as a marker for how far any given seismic station is from the source of the signal.
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If this thing can generate P-waves strong enough to kick it loose at that range, we're not going to ride it out here.
Starfish 1999
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P-waves are the less destructive vertical waves, while S-waves are devastating horizontal waves.
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As P-waves travel 1.73 times faster than S-waves, Wu worked out the correlation between the P-waves and the magnitude of the quake, which means that by analyzing the characteristics of P-waves, he can gauge the destructive force of the quake.
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