Question

What is the term for a disturbance in matter that causes the transfer of energy from place to place?

Answer 1

mechanical wave

A mechanical wave is a disturbance in matter that transfers energy from place to place. A mechanical wave starts when matter is disturbed. An example of a mechanical wave is pictured in Figure below . A drop of water falls into a pond. This disturbs the water in the pond. What happens next? The disturbance travels outward from the drop in all directions. This is the wave. A source of energy is needed to start a mechanical wave. In this case, the energy comes from the falling drop of water.