Science of Sound: 3. How Sound Travels
3 How Sound Travels
When sound causes air molecules to vibrate, it compresses and expands the air, forming pockets of high and low pressure. We call them sound waves because the air pressure goes up and down in a repeating pattern.Sound travels through air as a wave of high and low pressure. When a sound is created, the vibrating air molecules bump into their neighbors, causing them to vibrate as well. In this way, sound travels through the air as a wave of vibration. Note that the air molecules don’t travel very far. Instead, it is the sound energy that is transferred from one molecule to the next across distance. That sound energy can then set your ear into vibration and you can hear the sound.