I’m asking about both sound and electromagnetic waves. With sound waves, when the wave hits the wall then isn’t it asking the wall to flex more compared to a higher frequency wave?
I’m asking about both sound and electromagnetic waves. With sound waves, when the wave hits the wall then isn’t it asking the wall to flex more compared to a higher frequency wave?
Comments
You are making a generalization that is not necessarily true. Sound waves and electromagnetic waves interact with materials differently, and not all materials interact in the same way. So to address sound waves through walls, specifically: lower frequency sounds transmit through walls better than higher frequency sounds because walls are large surfaces that vibrate relatively slowly. They are better able to “keep up” with the slower pulsations from a low frequency sound wave, and therefore transmit the sound better.
Shorter wavelength means more movement (back and forth) per second which requires more energy. It’s easier to vibrate particles of wall slowly (long wavelength) than it is to vibrate them fast (short wavelength).
Think of holding one end of a long rope (like a jump rope) while the other end is tied to something or held by another person. How easy is it to move your end of the rope up and down to create one “hump” in the rope? How about 2 humps? You have to wave your arms up and down faster and faster to make more humps in the rope (shorter wavelength).
“flex more” is amplitude, not frequency. high frequency causes more frequent flexes than low frequency. think of a tree swaying in the wind. that is a a very low frequency sound (so low nothing can hear it). if you tried to make the tree sway the same amount, just faster, that would be difficult.