---
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 thes"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/wave-behaviour-vocabulary-mt_SFOSbVnrJ8
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/wave-behaviour-vocabulary-mt_SFOSbVnrJ8.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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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)