Individual particles of the medium oscillate up and down about their mean positions as a transverse wave passes through it.

Light is considered a transverse wave, but its oscillations are not of the medium particles or their pressure or density—it is not a mechanical wave.

In longitudinal waves, particles move parallel to the wave’s direction, while in transverse waves, particles move perpendicular to the wave’s direction.

When a pebble is dropped in a pond, the waves observed on the water surface are an example of transverse waves.

In a transverse wave, particles of the medium oscillate up and down about their mean positions, perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation, whereas in a longitudinal wave, particles oscillate parallel to the direction of propagation.