How do light, radio, and sound waves work together in televisions?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the interplay of light waves, radio waves, and sound waves in the functioning of televisions. It addresses the physics behind how these waves are transmitted and synchronized, as well as the conversion processes involved in sound and image production.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions how physics relates to the synchronization of picture and sound in televisions, noting the difference in speeds between light and sound.
  • Another participant argues that sound from the television is not transmitted as sound waves but rather through electromagnetic waves, which carry the necessary information for sound and image production.
  • A participant provides a calculation of sound travel time, suggesting that the difference in arrival time between sound and light is negligible at short distances.
  • Questions are raised about the possibility of converting sound waves into electromagnetic waves and how light travels from the monitor to the viewer's eyes.
  • One participant affirms that sound wave conversion to electromagnetic waves occurs in devices like microphones, where sound waves trigger electrical signals.
  • Another participant mentions that light travels as waves in the visible spectrum to reach the viewer's eyes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of sound transmission in televisions and the mechanisms of wave conversion. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the specifics of wave interactions and conversions.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about wave behavior and transmission methods are not fully explored, and the discussion does not resolve the technical details of wave synchronization in televisions.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in the physics of wave interactions, television technology, and sound and light transmission may find this discussion relevant.

physics246
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How does physics play a role in televisions with respect to light waves, radio waves, and sound waves. Also, if the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, why does the picture and sound arrive at sync in a television. I just need to know a little bit about the basis of a television, not too much.

Thank you
 
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If the sound as you hear it from the television had actually been transported in the shape of a sound wave from the sender, then a lot of eardums on the way would have exploded.

The information necessary to construct the sound inside your television set is carried by electro-magnetic waves just as the information necessary to construct the image on your television set.

That is, actual image and sound production happens within your television set, on basis of the information carried to it as a sequence of electric signals in the cable; that sequence again having been started at your antenna on receiving the incoming EM wave.
 
Also, if the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, why does the picture and sound arrive at sync in a television.
Speed of sound is roughly 1000 ft/sec., so if you are 10 feet away from the screen, it arrives in about .01 sec - you can't tell the difference.
 
1. Is it possible to convert sound waves (longitudinal) into electromagnetic waves (transverse)
2. I know that the picture travels as an electromagnetic wave to get from the station to the T.V., but when it gets from your monitor to your eyes, how does it travel.
 
1. Yes. That coversion process is happening when the journalist speaks into his microphone. The sound waves hitting the microphone triggers the apparatus to deliver its signals onwards.

2. As waves in the spectrum of visible light.
 

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