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Thread: Immediate Assistance Please - Physics

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    LUSE Galant's Avatar
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    Immediate Assistance Please - Physics

    Hi guys, I need some immediate help on confirming or denying a statement about the nature of light and sound. I'm not much of a physicist so hopefully someone else might have a clue.

    The statement is thus:

    "Physicists explain that light is much more complex than just visible light that we see with the human eye. Light travels through space by means of moving waves, called electro-magnetic waves. The wave length of these electro-magnetic waves determines the various types of light. Only 3% of the light spectrum makes up the visible light that we can see!

    Where are the other waves? Within the light spectrum is a range of wavelengths called radio waves which comprise a certain part of the electro-magnetic spectrum of light. Within this range there is an even smaller range which may be detected by human ear.

    ***As light travels through space at a wavelength within the threshold of audibility, we hear this light as sound and music."

    Basically - is sound simply a form of unseen (but heard) light?

    If our eyes were suitably adjusted would it be possible for us to see sound?

    Or are light and sound really unrelated?

    Much appreciated...

    G.
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    LUSE Galant's Avatar
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    Related - can radio waves - or electromagnetic waves be heard?
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    Ah, Mrs. Peel! mike_w's Avatar
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    If my Physics serves me correctly, EM waves, including light, are transverse waves, whereas sound is a longitudinal wave, and therefore somewhat different.
    "Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."

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    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Sound results from vibration in particles, be they a gas, liquid or solid.

    Light is part of the EM spectrum, EM waves can travel through a vacuum, unlike sound waves... they're different things.

    You cannot hear light, you cannot see sound. Of course, you can create devices to detect and 'translate' them.
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    Light is an electromagnetic wave made up of two transverse waves (formed from peaks and troughs), through electric and magnetic fields, at 90 degrees to each other. The oscillation of the wave is perpendicular to the direction of movement. The wave is energy, and can go through a vacuum. (spectrum ranges from radio waves,to microwaves, to IR, to visible light, to UV, to X-rays, gamma rays).

    Sound waves are longitudinal or compressional waves (formed from compressions and rarefactions) where the oscillation is parallel to the movement. The wave is the movent of particles such as air, therefore cannot go through a vacuum.

    In short they are completely unrelated in mechanism.
    Last edited by EvilWeevil; 09-04-2006 at 03:04 AM.

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by EvilWeevil
    Light is an electromagnetic wave made up of two transverse waves (formed from peaks and troughs), electric and magnetic, at 90 degrees to each other.
    Erm...no it isn't. Visilble light is simply electromagnetic waves with a vavelength between approx. 400-700nm.

    The oscillation of the wave is perpendicular to the direction of movement. The wave is energy, and can go through a vacuum. (spectrum ranges from radio waves, to IR, to visible light, to UV, to microwaves,
    No, microwaves come between Radio and IR.

    to X-rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays
    Cosmic rays are just a generic term for any electromagnetic photons coming from space, they could be gamma rays or radio waves. Gamma rays are the shortest wavelength/highest energy form of electromagnetic wave.

    Sound waves are longitudinal or compressional waves (formed from compressions and rarefactions) where the oscillation is parallel to the movement. The wave is the movent of particles such as air, therefore cannot go through a vacuum.

    In short they are completely unrelated in mechanism.
    True. To go back to the original point of this post, sound waves and light waves are very very different, and ears and eyes work in very very different ways. An eye could never see sound and an ear could never hear light.

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    Dark Souled Warrior Auran's Avatar
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    If my memory of physics serves me right, then the reason that we can see light in the visible spectrum is because it is also a particle as well as a wave. Receptors in your eye absorb photons within a particular band of energies, related to its wavelength.

    Sound propagates by compression waves within a media. Thus in term of our hearing these waves in the air cause vibtrations in our ear drum which our brain converts into sound.

    Thus as Rave states we cannot see sound or hear light.
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    Far Superior To Meths EvilWeevil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rave
    Erm...no it isn't. Visilble light is simply electromagnetic waves with a vavelength between approx. 400-700nm.
    I was defining the electromagnetic wave, not light:




    No, microwaves come between Radio and IR.
    Sorry, my bad.

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    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Auran
    If my memory of physics serves me right, then the reason that we can see light in the visible spectrum is because it is also a particle as well as a wave. Receptors in your eye absorb photons within a particular band of energies, related to its wavelength.
    I have a feeling that's more about how light is defined and described, just like with electrons, which can be treat as waves, particles, whatever...

    Alas, I do Computer Systems Engineering, and our electronics stops somewhat above the level a raw electrical/electronics engineer might go to.
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    Whilst not directly linked with physics, some people can actually "see" sound. It is called Synaesthesia (I think), and it is where one of the senses crosses over to another, in this case, sound can generate a visual response.

    So, as you asked, you can see sound...

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    I'd say in simple words that sound is what you hear so you can't see sound

    My teachers have always called light an EM wave and sound a mechanical wave, don't know if that makes it easier to understand?

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