Identify the medium for the following waves: a. Waves on a pond?

Question

Identify the medium for the following waves:

a. Waves on a pond __________

b. Sound waves from a musical instrument __________

c. Earthquake waves ___________

Answer 1

A. the water itself

B. there are two answers to this one:  first, the first is the air, and that's how you hear the music in person.  Second, some of the vibrations go through the material(s) making up the instrument itself (you can 'hear' a piano, for example, by feeling its vibrations as it is played).  I'm ignoring sound created from electronic signals going to an amplifier.

C. Solid rocks within and upon the crust of the Earth, and the fluids contained within those rocks.  There are many types of earthquake waves, the most important being Compressional Waves (P-waves), which travel through both solids and fluids, and Shear Waves (S-Waves), which travel only through solids.  Compresional waves travel a little faster than shear waves, so they are referred to as Primary Waves (hence P-waves); shear waves are referred to as secondary waves (hence the S-waves).