why sound are called longitutenalwaves?
Answers
Answer:
Sound waves in air (and any fluid medium) are longitudinal waves because particles of the medium through which the sound is transported vibrate parallel to the direction that the sound wave moves
Answer:
Sound waves in air (and any fluid medium) are longitudinal waves because particles of the medium through which the sound is transported vibrate parallel to the direction that the sound wave moves. A vibrating string can create longitudinal waves as depicted in the animation below. 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. 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 reverse direction (leftward), it lowers the pressure of the air immediately to its right, thus causing air molecules to move back leftward. 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. 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 molecules move rightward as the string moves rightward and then leftward as the string moves leftward. These back and forth vibrations are imparted to adjacent neighbors by particle-to-particle interaction. Other surrounding particles begin to move rightward and leftward, thus sending a wave to the right. 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. The result of such longitudinal vibrations is the creation of compressions and rarefactions within the air.
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