- #1
koat
- 40
- 0
hello
can somebody tell me why sound waves can't be propagated as transverse waves?
thanks in advance
can somebody tell me why sound waves can't be propagated as transverse waves?
thanks in advance
koat said:hello
can somebody tell me why sound waves can't be propagated as transverse waves?
thanks in advance
Studiot said:Who said they can't?
berkeman said:Welcome to the PF. Tell us your thoughts on the question. What is sound? What kind of waves generally propagate sound? What kind of things are propagated by transverse waves? Can you see anything at the molecular level (in air or water or solids) that would affect how sound is transmitted?
EDIT -- this sounds a bit like schoolwork, so you need to show some effort at helping to figure out the explanation.
koat said:my textbook
Phrak said:Sound waves in a gas cannot support transverse waves. This is because a gas is not resistant to shear forces. berkeman asked about molecules. What are the properties of molecules in a gas, and what is shear force?
Sound waves in a solid can be transverse waves.
Phrak said:Sound waves in a gas cannot support transverse waves. This is because a gas is not resistant to shear forces. berkeman asked about molecules. What are the properties of molecules in a gas, and what is shear force?
Sound waves in a solid can be transverse waves.
koat said:why is gas not resistant to shear forces?
Phrak said:This is a classwork question so you have to do some work first. What is a shear force?
But I don't understand why there are transverse waves in the solids
koat said:is it a force that pushes something?
Sound waves are a type of energy that travel through a medium, such as air or water, as a series of compressions and rarefactions. These waves are created by vibrations and can be heard by the human ear.
Sound waves are propagated as transverse waves, meaning that the particles of the medium vibrate perpendicular to the direction of the wave's motion. This allows the sound to travel through the medium in a series of up and down movements.
Transverse waves, like sound waves, move perpendicular to the direction of the wave's motion. In contrast, longitudinal waves move parallel to the direction of the wave's motion, such as in a slinky. Sound waves are transverse waves, while seismic waves (earthquakes) are longitudinal waves.
No, sound waves cannot travel through a vacuum because they require a medium to vibrate and propagate. In a vacuum, there are no particles for the sound waves to interact with, resulting in no sound being produced.
The frequency of a sound wave is directly related to its pitch. Higher frequency sound waves have a higher pitch, while lower frequency sound waves have a lower pitch. This is because the frequency determines the number of vibrations per second, which our ears interpret as pitch.