1 Sound waves
Part 1
Some initial knowledge of sound waves is essential if later chapters are going to be fully meaningful. The following is a brief outline of their most important properties. Scientific facts and figures are set out in Part 2 at the end of this chapter for those who may find them useful or interesting.
What are sound waves?
They are described as waves of compression and rarefaction in the air. This means that when sound waves travel past a fixed point the atmospheric pressure at that point goes slightly above and below the steady barometric pressure. But these fluctuations are far too small and far too rapid ever to be registered by a barometer. A microphone, on the other hand, can be thought of as a kind of extra-sensitive ...
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