thanks so much, im curious why wavelengths are waves and not straight lines
2006-10-28 17:21:17 · 6 answers · asked by Linda 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Basically, these travel in waves becasue they are produced from a vibrating source. Sound is produced from a vibrating membrane, or some other vibrating mechanical sourde, and what we hear is the changes in pressure caused by that vibration.
Light is produced when photons are emitted from an atom, when an electron falls from one orbit to another nearer the nucleus. Light though has a peculiar property in that it can be shown to be either a wave or a particle depending on how you look at it.
Just because these two forms of energy can be transmitted as waves, doesn't mean that they can't travel in a straight line. A laser is a light source that travels in a very straight line, and ultrasonic audio can do the same thing.
It's not that they can't travel in a straight line, simply that they do so while exhibiting a wavelike behavior.
2006-10-28 17:28:43 · answer #1 · answered by Deirdre H 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Straight lines are nothing. Everything moves in waves. From the gentle waves on your nearest lake, to the shock wave created when a nuclear weapon is detonated. A straight line denotes the absence of movement. The absence of life.
Everything is a vibration. Imagine a long piece of string stretched out on the table. Now, try to push the string forward from the opposite end. What happened? The weight of the string caused it to bend instead of moving ahead in a straight line, right? The same is true of sound and light waves. As sound or light travels away from it's point of origin, it bends under it's own weight (pressure) forming the wavelength.
And, in case you were wondering what the nasty blob is in your can of pork and beans, it is the Queen Bean, and the others are the worker beans who serve her.
2006-10-28 17:49:39 · answer #2 · answered by Danno 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Consider an ocean wave. It's water, not sound or light, but the concept is the same. It is a wave and shaped like one, and it moves across the ocean surface in a straight line toward the beach.
2006-10-28 17:27:46 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Otherwise they wouldn't be called waves and they wouldn't have "wavelengths" if they were straight lines. The fact sound is a wave lets us hear different pitches or frequencies, otherwise we would either hear only one pitch or not hear sound at all. With light, if there were no wavelengths, there would only be one color, or no color! Different colors of light have different wavelengths.
2006-10-28 17:24:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Infrared is not the same as heat. Infrared is at the lower range of the spectrum with a frequency that is easily absorbed by object to produce heat. Without hitting an object infrared itself is not hot, so to speak. With sounds the higher frequency sounds has enough energy to hit the walls and gets absorbed. The lower frequency sounds bounces off the walls and resonate. With superposition, it actually gets enhanced. lower energy sounds can travel through diffenrent mediums easier because of the reosnate frequencies.
2016-05-22 04:37:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
because when they are created they must act on the matter around where they are created. its pretty much how energy travels. it all comes down to a transfer of energy. when two things collide, rub together or i forget the third one, energy is released. watch the science channel and pbs. they will explain it to you in a way you may never have been able to understand.
2006-10-28 17:32:54 · answer #6 · answered by lifeofsymmetry1 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋