Is it true that sounds do not get lost but wander in universe? Are there any valid theories in physics which give an explanation to what happens to sounds after we produce them?
2006-09-19 03:06:37 · 3 answers · asked by Earthling 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The 'sounds' anything produces are 'waves' of energy that move through a medium (atmosphere or water) until they encounter a receptor which turns them into sound. This medium retards the propagation of the waves due to physical laws and the distance a sound travels is therefor dependent on its initial energy level and what medium it transverses.
2006-09-19 03:16:11 · answer #1 · answered by Nightstalker1967 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sound is a form of energy transmitted as mechanical wave. It produces a change in air pressure in the air around its source so that we can hear it. This wave as like other waves, finally gets faded. So, if you assume sound to be a kind of energy, then yes, it stays in Universe. But if you are saying that sound remains intact as such, then you are wrong.
2006-09-19 10:14:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
sound is just a vibration (waves) in a medium. In our daily lives the pressure waves spread through air. In the daily lives of fish, these are pressure waves in water.
sound gets dampened pretty quickly with distance and won't travel very far, already a few miles is quite food (thunder), and a couple dozen miles is very exceptional.
very near your mouth when you speak, the pressure waves of the sound are shaped about like a sphere that expands away from you at about 360 m/s (about 1200 ft/s), and can bounce of reflective surfaces (hence the echo in uncarpeted buildings, grottoes, or distant mountains).
in space there is no air so no sound can travel.
by comparison, light can travel through space, and can travel much faster than sound - we see the light of stars that are millions of light years away.
Hope this helps.
2006-09-19 10:12:53 · answer #3 · answered by AntoineBachmann 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋