Longitudinal wave and seismic P-waves (created by earthquakes and explosions). In longitudinal waves, the displacement of the medium is parallel to the propagation of the wave, and waves can be either straight or round. A wave along the length of a stretched Slinky toy, where the distance between coils increases and decreases, is a good visualization. In the case of longitudinal harmonic sound waves, the frequency and wavelength can be described by the formula where: The quantity "x"/"c" is the time that the wave takes to travel the distance "x". The ordinary frequency ("f") of the wave is given by The wavelength
Sound pressure Since formula_18, the amplitude of the specific acoustic impedance is given by Consequently, the amplitude of the particle displacement is related to that of the acoustic velocity and the sound pressure by When measuring the sound pressure created by a sound source, it is important to measure the distance from the object as well, since the sound pressure of a "spherical" sound wave decreases as 1/"r" from the centre of the sphere (and not as 1/"r", like the sound intensity): This relationship is an "inverse-proportional law". If the sound pressure "p" is measured at a distance "r" from the centre