when they both travel in waves?
2007-03-24 08:36:36 · 6 answers · asked by bavwill 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
What about in space
2007-03-24 08:56:58 · update #1
sound travels as air waves or disturbances, not particle waves... light travels in particles called photons or little balls of energy... this makes light an electromagnetic wave, and sound a sonic wave...
2007-03-24 08:46:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sound and light are both waves, but they are different kinds. Light is a transverse wave while sound is a longitudinal wave. Only longitudinal waves require a medium to move through like air or water. In space, only light can exist since space is a vacuum. Sound does not exist in space. As a little bit of extra information, transverse waves look like a sine or cosine graph. Longitudinal waves are made up of compressions and rarefactions (expansions) like a slinky that is laid on the ground, and you flick your hand to send pulses through it.
2007-03-24 18:47:57 · answer #2 · answered by oldworldvampyr 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Beacuse sound is waves and light is particles
Sound needs a medium like water or air (other particles) - light does not need that, it can travel in a vacuum since it is particles, not waves
2007-03-24 16:10:36 · answer #3 · answered by glazeddonut27 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light travels as photons (which also act as waves).
Sound isn't an actual "thing" like light is; it's just vibrations that travel through air or other things. (It doesn't actually need air to travel; in fact, there are many things that sound travels through faster than air)
2007-03-24 15:45:33 · answer #4 · answered by William S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For a start - sound doesn't need air to travel. Sound travels through water also! (Sonar). Sound is transmitted as a vibration through the molocules of whatever medium it is passing through (liquid, gas and solid (to varying extents) this is why sound will not travel in space, there is nothing to vibrate in a vacuum. Light however, is actually a form of radiation. Radiation will pass through anything that has holes big enough to let a ray of that wavelength through. (in the case of light 400-700nm) including a vacuum - which is an absence of anything and therefore will let anything through.
2007-03-24 16:02:18 · answer #5 · answered by Kommander 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it may be that light is a form of energy, and sound is created when something vibrates. The vibrations pass on through particles in the air, without the air, there is nothing to pass the sound on.
2007-03-24 15:48:29 · answer #6 · answered by Heralda 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋