Question

Why sound wave is called a longitudinal wave?​

Answer 1

Answer

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Sound waves in air 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 sound wave traveling through air, the vibrations of the particles are best described as longitudinal.
• Longitudinal waves are waves in which the motion of the individual particles of the medium is in a direction that is parallel to the direction of energy transport.
• A longitudinal wave can be created in a slinky if the slinky is stretched out in a horizontal direction and the first coils of the slinky are vibrated horizontally.
• In such a case, each individual coil of the medium is set into vibrational motion in directions parallel to the direction that the energy is transported

Answer 2

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 .