P wave

noun — 2 senses

P-wave

nounalso spelled P-wave

Etymology From p(rimary) + wave.

Geography, Geology, Natural sciences, Seismology A longitudinal compressional wave produced by an earthquake.

P-waves are the first to arrive; that is, they travel fastest. These are ‘push-pull’ waves analogous to sound waves, in which each particle moves back and forth as the waves propagate.2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 71:

noun

Cardiology, Medicine, Sciences A wave on an electrocardiogram that represents the electrical changes generated by the depolarization of the atria.

Related terms: P-A conduction time, P biatriale, P-H conduction time, P mitrale, P pulmonale

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for P-wave and P wave.