Vacuum & Sound: What Happens to Energy?

AI Thread Summary
Sound cannot travel through a vacuum because there are no particles to transmit the vibrations. When sound waves encounter a vacuum, they cannot propagate, leading to a complete absence of sound in that environment. The energy of the sound wave is not lost but instead is reflected back if it encounters a boundary. Shock waves and other phenomena can exist in different mediums, such as nebulae, where sound can interact with particles. Understanding sound in a vacuum highlights the importance of a medium for sound wave transmission.
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What happens to sound when it hits a vacuum? Because there is nothing for the sound wave to vibrate against, what happens to the energy?
 
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The sound wave will get reflected back.
 
Anorlunda, what I mean by sound is vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear.
 
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