sound waves

A wave can be described as a disturbance that travels through a medium, transporting energy from one location to another location. The medium is simply the material through which the sound, or disturbance, is moving; it can be thought of as a series of interacting particles. The example of a slinky wave is often used to illustrate the nature of a wave. A disturbance is typically created within the slinky by the back and forth movement of the first coil of the slinky. The first coil becomes disturbed and begins to push or pull on the second coil; this push or pull on the second coil will shift the second coil from its balanced position. As the second coil becomes shifted, it begins to push or pull on the third coil; the push or pull on the third coil displa

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The vibrations of the object set particles in the surrounding medium in a vibrating motion, transporting energy through the medium. In fact, the more particles which can be made to vibrate, the louder or more amplified the sound.

So as you can see, sound waves are both mechanical and longitudinal. As the third coil becomes shifted, it begins to push or pull on the fourth coil. Because mechanical waves rely on particle interaction in order to transport their energy, they cannot travel through regions of space which have no particles, so sound waves cannot travel through a vacuum. Mechanical waves are waves that require a medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another. First, there is a medium, which carries the disturbance from one location to another. A vibrating string can create longitudinal waves. Longitudinal waves are waves that the motion of the individual particles of the medium are in a direction which is parallel to the direction of energy transport. Regardless of the source of the sound wave - whether it is the vibrating string or the vibrating tines of a tuning fork - sound is a longitudinal wave. Since air molecules are moving in a direction which is parallel to the direction which the wave moves, the sound wave is referred to as a longitudinal wave. This concept is also demonstrated by the placing the vibrating tuning fork against the glass panel of a window; the vibrating tuning fork sets the glass panel into a vibrating motion and results in an amplified sound. Since a sound wave is a disturbance, which is transported through a medium via the means of particle interaction, a sound wave is characterized as a mechanical wave. This particle interaction continues throughout the entire medium, with each particle interacting and causing a disturbance of its nearest neighbors.

Common topics in this essay:
, tuning fork, sound wave, air molecules, push pull, particle interaction, tines tuning, sound waves, vibrating motion, vibrating string, tines tuning fork, begins push, causes air molecules, begins push pull, direction parallel direction, parallel direction energy,

Approximate Word count = 1298
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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