Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19980316073735.0069dddc@mail.walltech.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 07:37:35 -0600
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: geoff ruth <geoffr@eastside.org>
Subject: Sound wave reflection/refraction
A student of mine had the following question in class on Friday:
If someone is standing around a corner from you, how can you hear them? His
answer was that the sound waves bent as they went around the corner. I
explained that you could only hear them because they were reflecting off of
other things around, like fences and trees and other buildings. Then he
asked this: if you were in the desert with nothing around, and you stood
around a corner from someone, could you hear them talking? I don't think
you would be able to, assuming that the wall was sound-insulated and that
sound couldn't travel through the wall. Is my explanation and idea correct?
Is there any amount of diffraction that happens as sound waves go around
corners?
Geoff Ruth
Eastside School
2101 Pulgas Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 323-5898