Think about your day. The sound of your alarm clock waking you up, the sunlight streaming through your window, your microwave heating up your breakfast, each of these things involve waves! Waves are disturbances that transfer energy from one place to another. They have certain properties like wavelength, the distance between one wave and the next, amplitude, how high the wave goes, and frequency, how many waves pass by in a certain amount of time. There are many types of waves. Mechanical waves, like sound waves, need a medium like air or water to travel. Electromagnetic waves, like light or radio waves, can travel even in the vacuum of space. Matter waves are a little different. They're related to the behavior of particles at the quantum level, like electrons in an atom. We use waves in many technologies. Radio waves are used for broadcasting your favorite songs, microwaves help heat your food, and sound waves let us hear music and communicate. So, look around, waves are everywhere!