![]() The human ear is capable of detecting sound waves with a wide range of frequencies, ranging between approximately 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz. Do not conclude that sound is a transverse wave that has crests and troughs. The representation of sound by a sine wave is merely an attempt to illustrate the sinusoidal nature of the pressure-time fluctuations. Since a sound wave consists of a repeating pattern of high-pressure and low-pressure regions moving through a medium, it is sometimes referred to as a pressure wave. Thus, the longitudinal wave’s wavelength is commonly measured as the distance from one compression to the next adjacent compression or the distance from one rarefaction to the next adjacent rarefaction. A longitudinal wave consists of a repeating pattern of compressions and rarefactions. Since a longitudinal wave does not contain crests and troughs, its wavelength must be measured differently. Transverse wave’s wavelength is commonly measured from one wave crest to the next adjacent wave crest or from one wave trough to the next adjacent wave trough. The compressions are regions of high air pressure while the rarefactions are regions of low air pressure. These regions are known as compressions and rarefactions respectively. The result of such longitudinal vibrations is the creation of compressions and rarefactions within the air.īecause of the longitudinal motion of the air particles, there are regions in the air where the air particles are compressed together and other regions where the air particles are spread apart. Since air molecules (the particles of the medium) are moving in a direction that is parallel to the direction that the wave moves, the sound wave is referred to as a longitudinal wave. Other surrounding particles begin to move rightward and leftward, thus sending a wave to the right. These back and forth vibrations are imparted to adjacent neighbors by particle-to-particle interaction. The molecules move rightward as the string moves rightward and then leftward as the string moves leftward. The back and forth vibration of the string causes individual air molecules (or a layer of air molecules) in the region immediately to the right of the string to continually vibrate back and forth horizontally. ![]() ![]() The lower pressure to the right of the string causes air molecules in that region immediately to the right of the string to expand into a large region of space. As the vibrating string moves in the reverse direction (leftward), it lowers the pressure of the air immediately to its right, thus causing air molecules to move back leftward. This causes the air molecules to the right of the string to be compressed into a small region of space. ![]() As the vibrating string moves in the forward direction, it begins to push upon surrounding air molecules, moving them to the right towards their nearest neighbor. How are the longitudinal sound waves produced? A vibrating string can create longitudinal waves as depicted in the animation below. Longitudinal waves are waves in which the motion of the individual particles of the medium is in a direction that is parallel to the direction of energy transport. When sound wave travels through air, the vibrations of the particles are best described as longitudinal. The generation and propagation of a sound wave is demonstrated in the animation below. What is sound wave? Sound wave is a disturbance that is transported through a medium (air, water, steel, etc.) via the mechanism of particle-to-particle interaction, a sound wave is characterized as a mechanical wave. ![]()
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