I live in an apartment near the roads on the 17th level. I put my forehead on the window and I could feel the vibrations when the traffic light turned green and the cars and motorcycles started moving. How does that work?
In: 2
Zooming way in, molecules move around and bounce into each other. In air that “bouncing” makes sound waves. In a solid like, the road or walls, it’s also a wave, but because the molecules are way tighter packed, the wave travels really fast.
Car engines do a lot of vibrating. The pistons go up and down really fast. So the engine shakes when it’s running. Part of that goes up into the air (sound), and part goes down through the tires into the road. Then that shaking force is making fast little “waves” that travel through the pavement and into the road and into the building.
But probably what you’re feeling on the window is mostly from the sound. The cars are vibrating, which makes waves of sound go through the air. Those sound waves are hitting your window, and makes the window shake (very small and fast shaking, you can’t see it).
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