Eli5 Why can light not carry sound?

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From my very limited understanding sound is basically the vibrations in particles/atoms/ whatever, and light is some sort of weird mix between energy and very small particles, so why can light not carry sound? ( sorry if grammar/wording is bad high)

Edit: woke up to all of this, thank each and everyone of you so much!

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Sound is a pressure wave. This means particles are pushing on other particles. Light is photons which are wavicles, but importantly for this they are bosons. When a sound wave propagates through a medium, the particles that form the wave front move forward, and push on the particles in front of them, then move back into wherever they were before hand. With light, photons can occupy the same quantum state and can pass right through each other. So if one is moving forward and encounters another one, it won’t push it in the same way it is traveling. This, no pressure wave.

There is another reason as well. Or rather another way to look at it. Light travels at, well, light speed. So if photons are going in the same direction, then they can’t catch up to each other to push them even if they could interact with them..so you would need to propagate the “pressure” wave from the side of a beam of light. And then if they do “move” in that direction it immediately change direction and no longer be going the same way as others and a whole mess gets made.

So the short answer is that light can’t push light. And sound is a result of stuff pushing on stuff.

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