answersLogoWhite

0

Sound waves [unlike electromagnetic radiation] must have a 'medium' or substance through which to travel. A graphed 'wave' is not an analog representation of a sound, but literally a graph of wavelength/frequency on the X axis and amplitude/loudness on the Y axis. Imagine a bubble-like slab or thick sheet of "pressure" moving through the air away from the sound source. The slab is going to have a thickness. It must, because the pressure is moving through a physical substance (air, water, whatever) and because if there were zero thickness, there would be no "pressure". The amount of pressure in the curved slab determines the volume/loudness of the sound. How closely stacked the slabs are next to each other determines the pitch (high/low) being produced.

User Avatar

Wiki User

17y ago

What else can I help you with?