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This is an interesting daily phenomenon. I see you have already noticed that this happens even when there are no interfering sounds, yes! You are right, daytime pollution or activity has very little effect on it. This happens because of total internal reflection of sound. Here I explain it clearly.
You might have studied laws of optics in which total internal reflection occurs when a light ray from a denser medium falls on a rarer medium at an angle larger than the critical angle. The same thing happens for sound also. At night the earth surface cools down quickly by radiating heat and consequently the layer of air becomes cooler near the land and remains relatively hotter in the upper region of atmosphere. Thus when a sound wavestarts travelling from lower to higher region of air at night, it continuously bents towards the landand finally reaching critical angle, so that almost all of the sound intensity comes back to earth surface.
On the other hand, during day layer of air near the land remains hotter than the upper region and so no total internal reflection can occur and most of the intensity goes awayandgets attenuated in the atmosphere.
Thus at night sufficient amount of intensity comes from a distant source of sound, making it louder.
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∙ 10y ago
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Why sound travels faster during night time?
The only reason it would travel faster is if the air was more dense.
Which travels more swiftly sound or steel?
Sound
Why is the speed of sound in the water louder at night?
A speed can't be louder or less loud. The sound itself can be louder; or the speed can be faster.
Does a sound travel faster at night or during the day?
Sound is not greater during the nighttime. You are just more wary of it as you are tired and don't want to wake anyone up (if you live with someone else.)
How fast and far does sound go?
Sound has different speeds in different media. And the distance travelled of sound is also a charecterstic of the medium. In air it is nearly 350 m/s and it covers a small distance according to the loudness of sound. While in steel it is approx. 5000 m/s and even a less loud sound will travel the most distance. For more media, consider wikipedia(search speed of sound). Thank you.
What travels the slowest sound or Light?
Sound travels much more slowly than light. This is why we see the flash of lightning before we hear the thunder.
How do density and temperature effect the speed of sound?
The sound travels faster through a dense medium. Colder temperatures are generally more dense, thus sound travels faster at a lower temperature.
Why does density affect distance?
less density means you will not be able to give the ball momentum, but to little causes the object to fall quickly
What does the medium through which sound travels affect?
Sound travels the fastest through dense materials, since sound is simply the transfer of kinetic energy between matter. Thus a more dense object creates faster sound waves.
Does sound travel better though air or water?
Sound travels better and faster in air because air has a lower density than water and the sound vibrations can travel faster through them and with more accuracy, whereas in water the vibrations slowly die out and do not travel well because the density of the water will likely muffle and obstruct the sound waves. sound travels better in air than in water as sound travels in vibrations.. it travels faster in water than in air but it travels better in air.....
What material can sound energy travel through slowly?
The more closely packed molecules are in a medium, the faster sound travels through the medium, so sound travels slowest through a gas under low pressure.
Why does sound go faster in metal than in air?
Sound travels by compression waves: transmission of sound requires particles (atoms, molecules) of the medium to be compressed and rarefied. There are more particles of material in dense objects and so sound travels faster.
