Talk:P wave

Need link
There should be a link to P-wave_modulus. Armando Serrano 11:14, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Now there is. --Berland 17:49, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Pressure wave
Pressure wave currently redirects here. It may be a vernacular term in physics contexts, but, if applicable, the term should be addressed for the benefit of the general Wikipedia reader. ENeville (talk) 17:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Polarization of P-waves
"In isotropic and homogeneous solids, the polarization of a P-wave is always longitudinal". Shouldn't this say "mode of propagation" instead of "polarization"? Longitudinal waves don't have a polarization, because the direction of oscillation is always the same as the direction of travel of the wave (the article on polarization says this too). Sanchonx (talk) 17:53, 28 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I removed the discussion of "polarization" and revised the (unsourced) statement in the article summary with language about the mode of propagation. Ketone16 (talk) 14:33, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

Shadow Zone
The shadow zone of a P wave is between 105 and 143 degrees.

W. Lowrie, Fundamentals of Geophysics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997. P 149.

Quiksilver4Eyes (talk) 13:58, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Seismology
Are P-waves specific to seismology? The intro does not explicitly include such a qualifier and indicates that P-waves can be found in liquids and gasses. If they are this general, I might propose merging Mechanical wave into this article. If not, I'd add some qualifiers to the lead. --Kvng (talk) 14:24, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Alternative definitions
I would like to see some mention of the alternative nomenclature that features in a wide range of physics and acoustics textbooks. Namely, that P stands for parallel polarization (i.e., in-plane polarization), S stands for senkrecht (German for 'normal' or 'perpendicular') which is out-of-plane polarization, and L stands for longitudinal. In contrast, it appears that in seismology, P stands for parallel which refers to purely longitudinal waves, and S stands for shear which refers to all polarization states that are not longitudinal. See for example Polarization_(waves) — Preceding unsigned comment added by MJASmith (talk • contribs) 21:51, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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