A stone dropped into water creates a series of expanding circles on the surface of the water. This is an example of what type of wave motion?

The scenario described involves a stone being dropped into water, which generates a series of expanding circles on the surface. This phenomenon illustrates the characteristics of transverse waves. In a transverse wave, the motion of the medium (in this case, the water surface) is perpendicular to the direction of the wave propagation. When the stone impacts the water, it creates ripples that travel outward, demonstrating that the displacement of the surface (up and down movement) occurs perpendicular to the wave's direction (outward from the point of impact).

Transverse waves are commonly observed in water waves, where the crest and trough motion occurs above and below the equilibrium position of the water surface. This is in contrast to longitudinal waves, where the motion of the medium is parallel to the wave direction (like sound waves), and other options like radial waves, which describe a spreading wavefront but do not directly define the medium's motion, or oscillating, which is more of a descriptor of wave characteristics rather than a type of wave itself. Therefore, identifying this wave motion as transverse is substantiated by the behavior observed in the context of water waves.