Essay On Sound Wave

A sound wave is a longitudinal, mechanical wave that transfers energy whilst compressing and refracting through a uniform medium. Therefore, as sound waves move through a uniform medium, the wave will experience a gradual reduction in it’s power. When sound waves pass through the medium it interacts with the molecules and the energy is transferred to the uniform medium, as heat is generated from the molecules vibrating back forth. The heat generated from the transfer of energy reduces the power of the wave. In particular, medium uniforms which are solid gradually remove the power, whereas dense mediums result in a rapid loss of energy (Henderson, 1996).

The amount of power transported is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the wave (Carlton and Adler, 2012). Thus, as the sound wave transfers away from the source, the intensity and amplitude of the wave are diminished. In addition, the amount of power lost is proportional to the energy of the wave. This means the further the wave travels the more energy is lost as the power is spread over a larger area (Kleiner, 2013).

The particles of the medium vibrate in a longitudinal manner creating a compression zone (Henderson, 1996). In effect, as sound moves through matter, at each compression zone there is a localised region of increased pressure and particle density (See Image 1). This is because the compression zone creates high pressure regions due to the molecules crowding (Hedrick, 2013).

When the the molecules interact, the pressure p = and particle density are transferred from one location to another (Hedrick, 2013). This is due to number of vibrations between the particles of the medium, this frequency can be represented as f = .

Image 1: Compression Zone and Particle