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# 8.1.1: Wave Shape


An oscilloscope is an electronic device that allows us to capture the shape of a sound wave coming from a microphone. The microphone turns the sound waves into an analog electric current which varies in voltage the same way the sound wave does in pressure. The oscilloscope shows the voltage on a screen. Although the sound wave is longitudinal (back and forth) the voltage is plotted vertically (transverse). The variations in voltage are actually too fast to see if they were plotted in real time. However, if the variations are periodic (repeat over time) the oscilloscope can make these variations visible by repeatedly plotting the same variation over and over on the screen. Some oscilloscopes can also capture a short, rapidly changing sound by taking a time snapshot of the sound. Note that oscilloscope pictures are time graphs of the sound wave; the oscilloscope does not show the space picture of the wave.

## Video/audio examples:

8.1.1: Wave Shape is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Kyle Forinash and Wolfgang Christian via source content that was edited to conform to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.