Sound Waves???

Waves and Wave Motion

 

Friction.

Think about it... it's a sound wave. Like a wave in the ocean, the sound wave does not travel through nothing. It travels through air which has mass which creates friction causing the wave to dissipate.

 

^^ correct (i think), and sound actually travels faster and farther in water. so i would imagine in different types of gases sound could possibly travel farther or less far.

 

i dont believe its friction. because waves travel through a medium.
the tighter the molecules in the medium, the faster the waves will travel. ie. waves travel faster through a solid.
the waves spread out in air and get lost over time.
just my .02 bc we be learning about it in physics

 

Sound waves do not get spread out... that would change their frequency/wavelength causing it to sound differently. When someone says something to you from 100 feet away as compared to 5 feet away, it does not sound different. It is (more or less) the same sound, just with less amplitude (volume.)

Amplitude is decreased over time because at it's crests and troughs the air within the wave is pushed back into the middle by the air surrounding the wave. There is only so much initial energy to keep the wave moving before it returns to nothing.

It's friction... which causes dissipation.

Ask your Physics professor about it... I'm sure they'd appreciate an inquisitive mind.

 

i asked her today.
she said it indeed wasn't friction. its the loss of energy thats given to the air around.
which i guess is friction :? i dunno.

 

Wouldn't sound only exist in a place with substances like water, liquid and gas?

 

^If you're asking if sound waves need a medium to flow through, then yes.

For example, there can be no sound in space or in a vacuum.

 

Dissipation is the key word. Think throwing a pebble into a pond, the rings maintain a constant distance from one another (frequency) and they maintain the same speed and energy, but that energy is spread over such a large distance by the time it reaches the shore of the pond that the wave may not be visible (or audible, in the case of sound waves reaching a target).

 

so then what is sound?

 

Sound = Vibration passing through matter (gas, liquid, elastic solids)

All your stereo speakers do is move air at varying amplitudes and frequencies.

 

Sound is an illusion. The pattern of experiencing air molecules vibrate at a certain frequency.

 

ugh, i was meaning something else, but thanks.

is sound a product of the beginning?
these are serious questions btw, i just want someone to give me thought.
is sound just nothing if there is no density for it to travel through?

 

How is a proven and observable phenomenon an illusion? And if it was an illusion, would you be able to define it so accurately in the second sentence?

 

Of course we can describe it, we are sound.

 

so wouldn't language be an illusion?

 

More or less. We give the frequencies their meaning.

 

I get what you are saying now. I think you and I are on the same page.