How are electromagnetic waves and sound waves related and unique from each other?
In: Other
This sounds like a homework question. Can you elaborate what made you ask?
Easiest difference.
Sound waves move at the speed of sound. When something breaks the sound barrier it’s loud.
Electromagnetic waves move at the speed of light. Like light there is no sound
Sound waves are compression waves in a medium (made of stuff), typically air (but sonar is sound waves in water).
Electromagnetic waves are osculations in the electromagnetic quantum field (not made of stuff), which permeates the Universe.
A wave is just a periodic form of energy propagating out from a source. There’s a bunch of different kinds of waves. Sound waves like you say, are energy moving through the air. Ocean waves are the energy moving through water, etc. Electromagnetic waves are different from most other kinds of waves in that they do not move through a “medium”. Mediums are the things that hold the waves energy, like the air for sound waves.
So to say how they are the same- they’re both waves that move energy from one spot to another.
And to say how they are different- electromagnetic waves have no medium, while sound has the medium of air.
Sound is a large scale effect, seen when many small air particles interact electromagnetically.
They are both waves
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