Sound Waves

7 Pages 1797 Words

The waves will move in a straight line parallel to the energy that first moved the particles. No matter what the source of the sound wave is, all sound will be a longitudinal wave because it always moves in a direction parallel to the direction of energy transport. (Ludwig)
These longitudinal waves can also sometimes be referred to as pressure waves. (Huffstetler) The idea behind a pressure wave is that when energy is moving through a medium, the particles that are vibrating alternate between areas of high and low pressure. The high-pressure sections of sound waves are call compressions because the particles in the section are pushed together. The low-pressure sections of sound waves are called rarefactions because the particles in the section are spread apart. (Huffstetler) These compressions and rarefactions make a sound wave pulsate through the air at different air pressures in a certain direction. (Russell)
Sound waves, regardless of what medium or disturbance creates it, are all composed of frequencies and pitches. The frequency of a sound wave is how often that the particles in the medium are vibrated in a given wavelength. (Henderson) The frequencies are measured...