What are Sound Waves?
- Sounds waves are longitudinal mechanical waves, caused by vibrations in the air or another medium.
- Generally, sound travels faster through a medium in which particles are closer together and there are stronger forces between particles.
- This means that sound usually travels faster in solids than in liquids, and slowest in gases such as air.
- This is why sound is a lot more effective in water, allowing cachalots to detect prey from far further away with their echolocation than bats, for example.
Describing Sound
- The pitch of sound is the sensation produced in the human brain by a sound of certain frequency.
- The loudness of sound is a subjective measure of our ear's response to the level of sound received.
- The loudness of sound is often referred to using decibels (dB), which is dependent on the amplitude of the wave.
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