Are light waves bigger than sound waves?

Answer 1

First you need to appreciate thatsound wave and light waves are different types of wave.

Sound waves are compression waves; when something causes a vibration it transfers kinetic energy to the immediate surrounding particles, these particles then transfer their kinetic energy to the next sheet of surrounding particles, on so on. When this vibration enters our ears we detect it as a sound - if this is within the frequency range of hearing for humans (15-18000 Hz). Sound can travel through almost any material, albeit that some materials are poor sound conductors. When sound reaches a space void of matter (a vacuum) it ceases to travel as there are no particles to carry the compression wave any further.

Light waves are electromagnetic waves - like microwaves, radio waves or gamma rays. However, we can think of a beam of light as being made up of packets of energy which we call photons. You may be wondering where these packets of energy come from, the answer is electrons. Electrons in a stable atom or molecule will typically sit a certain distance from the nucleus, where electromagnetic attraction will keep them whizzing around. If a material is heated then the electrons in that material will gain kinetic energy and may move further away from the nucleus than normal - the photon is made when the electron falls back into its regular orbit and the distance it falls determines the frequency of the electromagnetic radiation. Photons are also produced in chemical reactions where you see light - such as the hydrogen to helium fusion reactions in the Sun. Also, light will travel through a vacuum.

Answer 2

Yes, for any traveling wave: (frequency) x (wavelength) = velocity. For a given medium (such as air) and temperature and air pressure, the velocity will be constant, so as frequency decreases, then wavelength will be longer so that the product of the two is equal to the constant velocity.

Answer 3

They are very different types of waves, one is an electromagnetic wave that may travel in a vacuum; and the other is a pressure wave that needs a medium.

Sound waves range from the infrasonic, which could be several km long.

EM waves at light wavelengths range from 400 to 700 nanometres.

So light waves are perhaps 10-10 of the length of sound waves.

So much for their wavelength. Their other dimension is their amplitude, but these are very different phenomena and cannot be usefully compared.

Answer 4

No. Sound waves are manifestations of compression and rarefaction of particles in a medium, for example, gas molecules in air. This is quite different from electromagnetic radiation like light, which has been shown to have no medium but rather comprises force carrier particles, or in other words while traveling in waves are also like packets of energy (photons) which self-propagate.

Color is a matter of perception (i.e., has a significant neurological component) and involves photoreceptors in the eye's retina which are sensitive to specific frequencies, since color is just a expression of the detection of the specific frequency of light, with red having lower frequencies (longer wavelengths) and blue having higher frequencies (shorter wavelengths).

However, sound waves do have a pitch (frequency) to which the ear is sensitive, with higher tones having a shorter wavelength (higher frequency); so, by way of analogy, the pitch of the sound wave is analogous to the color of light.

Answer 5

Yes they do.