Expert: James J. Kovalcin - 10/26/2009

Question
Hi,
My question is how does sound travel through the air? Is it like a radio wave? And is sound inside a car, more bad for your ears then listening to music outside a car.

Thanks for your help
Regards
Jeff

Answer
Sound and light are entirely different. Light can travel through a vacuum while sound REQUIRES a material medium. Sound traveling through air can best compared to a series of dominoes. As a vibrating instrument, for example, bumps into nearby molecules of air which in turn bump into molecules near them, which in turn bump into other molecules, the sound travels through the medium, just as one domino can fall bumping into the next domino, bumping into the next domino, etc.
Light, on the other hand requires no molecules to bump into but can, in fact, travel through a pure medium as it does through outer space.
As for damage to your hearing, all that matters is the intensity of the sound. High intensity sound waves can "bump into" your inner ear with enough rigorousness to cause permanent hearing loss. Inside or outside of a car makes no difference. Only the intensity of the sound matters [the amount of energy per second being received].