Question

How were transverse waves formed?

Answer 1

Wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance of one or more quantities. In physical waves, at least two field quantities in the wave medium are involved. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium value at some frequency. Transverse waves are the perpendicular waves.

Complete step by step answer:
A transverse wave is a wave that vibrates perpendicular to the direction of the wave or path of propagation. Transverse waves are created when a motion perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave is induced in the molecules that make up the medium. Vibrating the molecules perpendicular to the direction of the wave will produce an up and down movement that will create alternating high point i.e. crests & low point through. Transverse waves commonly occur in elastic solids; the oscillation in this case is the displacement of the solid particles away from their relaxed positions, in direction perpendicular to the propagation of the wave.
Simplest kind of transverse wave is a plane linearly polarized sinusoidal one. Plane means that the direction of propagation is unchanging and the same over the whole medium; ‘linearly polarized’ means that the direction of displacement too is unchanging and the same over the whole medium; and the magnitude of the displacement is a sinusoidal function only of time & position along the direction of propagation.

Additional Information:
In a homogeneous elastic medium, complex oscillation can be described as the superposition of many sinusoidal waves, either transverse or longitudinal.
Transverse wave are contrasted with longitudinal waves where the oscillations occurs in the variation direction of the wave light is example of transverse wave, where the oscillation are the electric and magnetic fields, which point at right angles to the ideal light rags that describe the direction of propagation. A pair of superimposed periodic waves travelling in opposite directions makes a standing wave. In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibrations has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero.
Mechanical and electromagnetic waves transfer energy, momentum and information, but they do not transfer particles in the medium.

Note: Mathematically the simplest wave is a sinusoidal plane wave in which at any point the field experiences simple harmonic motion at one frequency. Mechanical waves include both transverse and longitudinal waves; on the other hand electromagnetic waves are strictly transverse while sound waves can only be longitudinal. The amplitude of the wave may be constant or may be modulated so as to vary with time or position.