A friend of mine who once lived on a hill overlooking the freeway said that the noise was much louder on the hill than next to the freeway. Is this so? There was a concrete wall on both sides of the freeway. Perhaps someone with a strong physics background can answer this.
2006-12-31 05:21:41 · 4 answers · asked by Philippe 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
it has to do with the way sounds travel. i live on the 8th floor in chicago and i can hear the recorded messages from the nearby elevated train station better from my window than i can when i am on the train!!! the sound waves that are headed in an upward direction don't have anything to interfere with them. if you're standing parallel, there are plenty of things to impede them
2006-12-31 05:27:19 · answer #1 · answered by habs_freak 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I do not have a physics background, this is just a guess. The concrete walls and the grass area (if there was one) that is typically next to freeways may have been acting like a sound absorber. Being on the hill there was nothing to catch and soften the sound, the sound that did carry up to the hill near his house was just open sound traveling.
Sounded good to me?!
2006-12-31 13:25:39 · answer #2 · answered by schwabapoo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The concrete walls lining freeways are meant to be sound barriers. If you are level to the freeway the walls blocks much of the sound from reaching you. If you are on a hill, next to a freeway above the walls, the sound has a 'beeline' directly toward you.
2006-12-31 13:51:50 · answer #3 · answered by ZeedoT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because the soundwaves bounced up off the walls, it doesn't take a degree to figure that out
2006-12-31 13:23:29 · answer #4 · answered by rhino_man420 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋