What Is The Difference Between Light And Sound Waves?

Sound is the disturbance of mechanical energy, and moves through matter as a wave. It is the properties of a sound wave that characterise sound namely frequency, wavelength, period, amplitude, and speed.

Light is electromagnetic radiation.

There are two main differences between sound and light waves. Firstly in speed, sound travels at about 1,100 feet per second, light waves travel at about 186,000 miles per second.

The second difference is that sound requires a solid, liquid or gaseous medium to travel but light can travel through empty space. The denser the medium, the greater the speed of sound whereas the opposite is true of light. Light travels around a third slower in water than in air, sound travels through all substances but light will not pass through anything that is opaque.

The three main differences between light and sound waves are as follows :

1) The sound waves have only the characteristics of waves, whereas light has a wave particular duality in nature. They exhibit properties of both waves and particles and are said to be composed of packets of light called photons.

2) The sound waves are perceived by auditory devices such as ears or microphones whereas light waves can be received or seen through visual devices such as the eyes or cameras or other devices that record them on different frequencies like microwave antennae.

3) The speed of sound depends on the medium it is traveling in, whereas the speed of light is a constant and it travels with almost the same speed in different refractive mediums like air or water.

Sound waves are produced by compression and rarefaction of the particles of the medium. Sound waves are categorized as longitudinal waves. Light waves are transverse waves and also known as electromagnetic waves. There are three basic similarities between sound waves and light waves including interference, diffraction and refraction. Both the waves have the property of interference. When two coherent waves of sound waves or light waves fall in a same medium in a same direction, interference takes place. These waves when strike an opaque object, they diffract from their path. Sound waves and light waves have The property of refraction. When they pass from one medium to other medium, they refract from their original path.

Sound Light
Sound needs a medium to travel through Light can travel through vacuum
Sound travels a million times slower than light Light travels at 300 million m/s
Sound travels in a motion of waves Light travels in straight lines
In light, the denser the material the slower the speed of
In sound, the denser the material, light
the greater the speed of sound
Sound travels best in opaque objects Light does not travel through opaque objects

Sound Wave Light Wave
330 m/s 3 hundred million m/s
The Denser the medium the greater the speed of sound The denser the medium the lesser the speed of sound.
Needs a medium Can travel through a vacuum.
Sounds travels best through opaque objects Light does not travel through opaque objects
Longitudinal wave Transverse wave

Too add on...sound wave is longitudinal vibration and light wave is transverse. Sound wave always needs an fluid medium to be heard, though it can travel through any material medium but to have an effect on our eardrums a fluid medium is necessary.

Light travels faster than sound, it travels at around 300,00km every second.

You can hear sound but you can't see it and you can see light but can't hear it

The theological side of light occurs when a matter of material penetrates the core of the system of light to be exactly pres ice

The difference is that you can hear sound and you can see light.

Light is something you see and sound is something you hear