Where does sound go after we can no longer hear it?

Question

Where does sound go after we can no longer hear it?

In: Physics

Answer 1

The energy of the sound wave is dispersed through the air. With each unit of distance it travels, it has to vibrate a larger amount of air with the same amount of energy (the inverse square root law) . At some point, the wave is so weak that it is indistinguishable from the background noise.