Longitudinal waves (and some more animations)
Added 2024-03-28 15:18:46 +0000 UTCSound waves are often shown as a wiggly line. This line shows the change in pressure (usually air pressure). High points are higher and low points are lower pressure than the ambient air pressure.
It's a great visualization and it's so widely used for good reasons, but it also has two big problems. The first is that the line itself shows a wave, and we talk about sound waves. This can give the impression that the air moves a lot like waves on water! But that's not actually the case. As you can see in this animation, the air molecules move back and forth, not up and down! The second problem is that it can give the illusion that the air is moving! But it's not, if you look at the air molecules, they are vibrating back and forth, but they stay in the same spot.
I've made these animations for the master thesis of my gf. They are free to use! Go Go Education :)
There are some more, simpler animations attached. If you use them, I'd love to know.
