Is the main difference between a sound wave and a radio wave, wave length or frequency?

Answer 1

Sound waves are waves of air that result from the motions of air molecules (or whatever the sound is passing through). Radio waves are a form of light waves that are a result of photons (light particles) in motion.

Wave length is the distance between two consecutive peaks of a wave, regardless of whether it is sound or light. Frequency is the number of waves generated in a given time frame, usually in seconds. The two are reciprocal to each other as a higher frequency will have a smaller wavelength, and vice versa.

Answer 2

Sound is a wave in the air. The local pressure changes with the frequency of the sound.
Radio wave is an electromagnetic wave. The electric and magnetic field change simultaneously with the frequency of the radio source.
The radio wave is about one million times faster than sound.

Answer 3

I agree with the good doctor; EXCEPT that if you had a powerful magnet and put it on the end of a motor and spun it at a very high rate of speed, you would have made an alternating (reversing) magnetic field, using mechanical means.

In terms of frequencies of electromagnetic fields, this would be a very low frequency (VLF), and there are much easier ways to generate them electronically.

What he said about sound waves being purely mechanical holds true. They are waves of compression and rarefaction in air or another elastic medium. Electromagnetic waves, on the other hand, need no medium through which to travel.

Answer 4

Putting aside that they describe entirely different phenomena (vibrating molecules vs. electromagnetic fields), they differ greatly in speed (340 m/s for sound in air, vs. 3 x 10^8 m/s) and frequency (20 to 20,000 Hz for human-audible sound, vs. about 600,000 to 1,600,000 Hz for AM radio waves, and even higher for FM radio)

However, wavelengths of the two can be equal. A 100 Hz sound wave (in air) and a 100 MHz (FM region) radio wave both have a wavelength of about 3 m or 10 feet.

Answer 5

Neither. A sound wave is mechanical in nature. A radio wave is electromagnetic in nature. Two completely different things. You can create a sound wave electrically but the last stage is a speaker which is a mechanical device. You cannot create a radio wave mechanically.


touche' cdf_rom

Answer 6

ya,much difference.but i think to connect wavelength with sound doesnot seem fair but sound and radio has diff frequencies

Answer 7

Both wavelength and frequency I believe.