Under the definition of waves is the fact that they can travel through a vain space. However, sound cannot do that because it requires matter for the pressure difference to arise. Yet there are sound WAVES. Can we consider sound as waves or not?
Answer
Hi Randy,
I don’t know from which work you adopted the definition of waves, but if we take eg Wikipedia, it says: A wave is a disturbance that propagates.
Other works say: A wave can be seen as a moving vibration.
This shows that waves do not restrict the medium.
Sound, which requires air or other matter, therefore also meets the definition of waves. Waves on the water surface of the sea too.
What is important about waves is that ‘something’ changes, rather than that this change moves forward.
‘Something’ can be the electromagnetic field as with light, but also the air pressure as with sound.
Kind regards,
Luc.
Answered by
ir Luc Bosmans
Technology in the audiovisual sector
Industrial quay 170 B-1070 Brussels
http://www.erasmushogeschool.be/
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