Different types of waves travel differently through different types of media (and are absorbed differently). I'd be surprised to find a wave that wasn't absorbed at all in travel, but echoing those above, you could definitely have a wave travel through one substance without losing much energy/impacting it much, just to hit another and react.
I'd also particularly echo the post above with transverse vs. longitudinal. (From what I can recall, this is more or less how lasers work...they're fairly harmless until they hit something with the right frequency to cause the energy to be set off.)
I'd also particularly echo the post above with transverse vs. longitudinal. (From what I can recall, this is more or less how lasers work...they're fairly harmless until they hit something with the right frequency to cause the energy to be set off.)