What are Sound Waves & Why Can't We Hear Some?

  • Thread starter Thread starter amitmis
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
Sound waves are vibrations of air particles or other mediums, classified as longitudinal waves consisting of compressions and rarefactions. The human ear detects these vibrations within a specific frequency range, which is why some sounds are inaudible. Frequencies outside this range cannot be perceived, leading to sounds that we cannot hear. Understanding sound waves involves recognizing their physical properties and the limitations of human hearing. This foundational knowledge clarifies the nature of sound and its perception.
amitmis
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
hi,

first - i want to tell you I'm pretty good at english, but it's not my mother tongue, and i still use babylon dictionary sometimes, to read answers, and questions. so - i'll have to ask you to lower the english level (not so rich language...). thank's.

second - my question - what are sound waves made of?
and why are there sounds that we can't hear?

thank's
amit
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Sound waves are vibrations of air particles (or any other medium, technically). Your ear can detect these vibrations and your barin then interprets that as data, which we call sound. The reason there are sounds that's we can't hears is because you ear can only detect frequcies of a certain range. Anything outside that rage, and it won't be detected.
 
Sorry, just want to add the term :redface:; (since no has done so yet)

*Sound waves are longitudinal waves :smile:

composed of subsequent compressions and rarefactions of particles in a medium
 
Last edited:
Thread 'Gauss' law seems to imply instantaneous electric field propagation'
Imagine a charged sphere at the origin connected through an open switch to a vertical grounded wire. We wish to find an expression for the horizontal component of the electric field at a distance ##\mathbf{r}## from the sphere as it discharges. By using the Lorenz gauge condition: $$\nabla \cdot \mathbf{A} + \frac{1}{c^2}\frac{\partial \phi}{\partial t}=0\tag{1}$$ we find the following retarded solutions to the Maxwell equations If we assume that...
Thread 'Griffith, Electrodynamics, 4th Edition, Example 4.8. (First part)'
I am reading the Griffith, Electrodynamics book, 4th edition, Example 4.8 and stuck at some statements. It's little bit confused. > Example 4.8. Suppose the entire region below the plane ##z=0## in Fig. 4.28 is filled with uniform linear dielectric material of susceptibility ##\chi_e##. Calculate the force on a point charge ##q## situated a distance ##d## above the origin. Solution : The surface bound charge on the ##xy## plane is of opposite sign to ##q##, so the force will be...
Dear all, in an encounter of an infamous claim by Gerlich and Tscheuschner that the Greenhouse effect is inconsistent with the 2nd law of thermodynamics I came to a simple thought experiment which I wanted to share with you to check my understanding and brush up my knowledge. The thought experiment I tried to calculate through is as follows. I have a sphere (1) with radius ##r##, acting like a black body at a temperature of exactly ##T_1 = 500 K##. With Stefan-Boltzmann you can calculate...
Back
Top