differences between radio frequency wave and sound wave?

[eyeow]

difference between sound and radio waves

hi there.

i might need help in defining the major differences between radio frequency wave and sound wave? by the way, is there any similarity between them?

 

[dennis zhang]

difference between sound waves and radio waves

Of course, both of them can be characterized by frequency and amplititude. i think the major difference is frequency of them

 

[Jone]

difference between radio and sound waves

A radio wave is an electromagnetic wave and so too is light. Generally a lot can be said about waves (electromagnetic waves, sound waves, water waves). What characterizes a wave is that they all satisfy the wave function f = f(x±vt) and therefore also the wave equation. So from a mathematical point of view all these waves are similar.
One major difference is that a sound wave is longitudinal while a radio wave is transverse. In air, a sound wave represents the longitudinal displacement of the air molecules, or the pressure of the air. An em wave is more subtle to explain. It consists of electric and a magnetic field components and these components are orthogonal to each other. Em waves also have a polarisation. In satellite communication the waves have a circular polarisation while radio waves on the earth most often have a linear polarisation.
Another major difference is that an em wave needs no medium to travel while a sound wave needs some medium (for example air, water). In vacuum em waves travel with the speed of light while a sound wave wouldn't propagate at all.

The concept of waves comes from the underlying mathematics for different physical phenomenas. Everything can be characterized by a wave, even YOU! To explain how two waves (any type of wave) interact with each other the wave concept is really powerful. However, the wave concept does not explain all the physical phenomenas. The wave concept explains how energy and momentum is transported through space but doesn't explain how matter is transported. Electromagnetic waves has both a particle and a wave nature. To explain how these particles are transported (photons) another model is needed, and this is called the particle model.

 

[ricksidd]

differences between radio and sound waves

sound waves require medium while radio waves don't because the radio wave are electromagnetic in nature while sound waves are created by comression and rarefaction of the medium(air)....
fundamentally they are WAVES with amplitude, frequncy & phase....

 

[ee171]

similarities between sound waves and radio waves

Jone, that's awesome explanation. Nothing else I could add... except for maybe light (visible range) changes its wavelength results beautiful colors and sound (audio range) changes its wavelength results beautiful sound?

 

[zorro]

difference between sound wave and radio frequency

Hi,

There is an essential difference:

If you measure the speed of a sound wave, the result is the speed of the wave + the speed of the observer (both with respect the medium of propagation).

Electromagnetic waves propagate in vacuum with a speed that is the same for all observers (velocities don’t add). This counterintuitive fact is one of the principles of relativity, and the reason of the (unexpected at that time) result in Michelson-Morley experiment.

Regards

Z