---
title: "Wave Behaviour Vocabulary"
description: "Use technical vocabulary for wave behaviour (refraction, absorption, reflection, scattering, amplitude, frequency, wavelength, echo, spectrum, angle of incidence, angle of reflection) and apply these "
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/wave-behaviour-vocabulary-mt_SFOSbVnrJ8
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/wave-behaviour-vocabulary-mt_SFOSbVnrJ8.md
retrieved: 2026-11-12
---

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# Wave Behaviour Vocabulary

Use technical vocabulary for wave behaviour (refraction, absorption, reflection, scattering, amplitude, frequency, wavelength, echo, spectrum, angle of incidence, angle of reflection) and apply these when explaining how light and sound travel and interact with different materials

Subject: Science · Area: Waves, Light & Sound · Ages 9 to 11
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/wave-behaviour-vocabulary-mt_SFOSbVnrJ8

## Ready when they can

- Use 'refraction' correctly to explain why a straw appears bent in a glass of water
- Distinguish 'reflection' from 'refraction' using the correct definitions
- Explain what an echo is using the vocabulary of sound reflection correctly

## Lesson: The Vocabulary of Waves

Light and sound both travel as waves. When a wave hits something, like water, glass, or a wall, it can bounce back, bend, get soaked up, or scatter in all directions. Scientists have exact words for each of these actions.

Reflection means a wave bounces back off a surface. Look in a mirror: light reflects straight back to your eyes. Shout in a canyon and sound reflects back too. That returning sound has its own name: an echo.

*(drawing: Follow one shout: it travels to the wall, bounces back, and comes home to your ears as an echo. That bouncing is reflection.)*

Refraction means a wave bends as it moves from one material into another, like from air into water. Light slows down and bends when it enters water, which is why a straw resting in a glass looks like it snaps at the waterline.

**Example.** Zara puts a pencil in a glass of water and looks from the side. The pencil looks broken at the surface, even though it is perfectly straight. Zara explains: 'The light refracts, it bends, as it moves from air into water. My eyes just follow the bent path, so the pencil looks bent too.'

**Tip.** Don't mix up reflection and refraction. Reflection bounces a wave back. Refraction bends a wave as it passes into a new material. Same first three letters, different job.

**Recap.** Reflection bounces a wave back. Refraction bends it into a new material. An echo is just reflected sound.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Light & sound vocabulary](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/light-and-sound-vocabulary-mt_YPSx5pbpVl)

## Opens up

- [How we see objects](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/how-we-see-objects-mt_6w2g7aoPgz)
- [How Sound Waves Travel](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/how-sound-waves-travel-mt_DQk9oDE7gr)
- [Wave properties & types](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/wave-properties-and-types-mt_LxK9OKZQZX)
- [Waves & how they move](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/waves-and-how-they-move-mt_ph4xZVMiVq)
- [Reflection & Refraction](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/reflection-and-refraction-mt_PifbJOuXrG)
- [Light travels in straight lines](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/light-travels-in-straight-lines-mt_qZro923zvz)