How are light waves differ from sound waves and water waves?

Answer 1

There are two main differences between sound waves and light waves. The first difference is invelocity. Sound waves travel through air at the speed of approximately 1,100 feet per second; light wavestravel through air and empty space at a speed of approximately 186,000 miles per second. The seconddifference is that sound is composed of longitudinal waves (alternate compressions and expansions ofmatter) and light is composed of transverse waves in an electromagnetic field.

Answer 2

Light waves are electromagnetic waves that do not require a medium to travel through, while sound waves and water waves are mechanical waves that need a medium to propagate. Light waves travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, while sound waves and water waves travel at much slower speeds. Additionally, light waves are transverse waves, while sound waves and water waves can be either transverse or longitudinal.

Answer 3

Their speeds and nature.

Light waves travel at the speed of 3*10^8 m/s.

It is very unlikely for water waves to travel at such high speeds.

Light waves are electromagnetic radiation requiring no medium for their transmission whereas water waves, being mechanical, requires a medium.

Answer 4

Visible light waves are the only electromagnetic waves we can see. We see these waves as the colors of the rainbow. Each color has a different wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest wavelength. When all the waves are seen together, they make white light.

Answer 5

Virtually any wave that is not EMR (electromagnetic radiation) requires a medium through which to move. Sound can move through air, water and many kinds of solid material, but it cannot move through vacuum. Light moves easily through vacuum (no medium) and in fact moves at its highest velocity in vacuum. Waves through a medium involve a rarefaction and compression of the material, and nothing physical actually moves across any great distance. Light is also particle-like so that it propagates through vacuum in the form of massless photons.

Answer 6

The fundamental difference is probably that light waves do not need a "medium" through which to travel.

They are all waves but there are differences between all three.

As waves they have the property that they are repetitive in both time and space. In time the function is repeated once every period, while in space it is repeated every wavelength. The wave moves forward by one wavelength per period, so the speed of propagation is the wavelength times the number of periods per second, otherwise called the frequency.

Light waves are waves in the electric field E and magnetic field H, which are both vector quantities directed at right angles to each other and also to the direction of propagation. The vector product E x H is in the direction of propagation and is named the Poynting vector after John Poynting, Physics prof. at Birmingham University in England. The waves travel at a speed (in free space) equal to a physical constant c, which is defined as 2.99792458 x 108 metres per second.

Sound waves are waves in the air pressure, which is a scalar quantity without any direction, and they travel at about 1100 metres per second.

Water waves are waves in the level of the sea's surface, with the waves moving across the surface and the water particles moving mainly up and down but also forward and back. The waves are produced by wind on the surface and the speed of propagation is linked to the amplitude (how high they are). Large ocean waves can travel at 10-15 metres/second, smaller waves move much more slowly.

Answer 7

Light waves are not mechanical waves. This means that it does not need a material medium as an essential entity to get propagated through. But sound waves need some material medium such as air, water or even solid metals. Water waves badly needs water surface.
Light waves has incredible speed but the other two are not so

Answer 8

We give other electromagnetic waves different names because their frequencies/wavelengths

are different from those of light. But they're all really the same thing as light.

Answer 9

water waves travel through water and light waves travel through a vacuum (in space)

Answer 10

Electromagnetic waves vary only by frequency and amplitude. The frequency is what determines the energy of the wave and the square of its amplitude is proportional to its intensity.