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Chapter 32: Problem 5

You can hear around corners, but you can't see around corners. Why?

Short Answer

Expert verified
We can hear around corners, but cannot see around them because sound waves diffraction around objects much more than light waves. This allows us to hear sounds from around a corner or through an open door, while light waves that do not diffract around corners or through openings sufficiently prevent us from seeing the source.

Step by step solution

01

Understand properties of light and sound

Light and sound are both types of waves. However, light waves are electromagnetic waves whereas sound waves are mechanical waves. Because of their properties, electromagnetic waves like light tend to move in straight lines and they do not diffract (spread out) much around corners. On the other hand, sound waves being mechanical waves, they tend to spread out in all directions from their source and they diffract a lot, even around corners.
02

Different behavior around corners

Due to the diffraction property of waves, sound waves have the ability to bend around corners and obstacles. This is why we can hear sounds from around a corner or through an open door. In contrast, light waves do not bend much around corners or through openings, so we cannot see around corners.
03

Illustrate with examples

For instance, if someone is playing music in a room with the door slightly open, we can hear the music even if we are not directly in front of the door. This is because the sound waves are diffracting, or spreading out, from the room and reaching our ears. However, unless we are in the direct path of light (like we would be if we were looking directly into the room), we cannot see the source of the sound because light waves from the source are not diffracting around the corner or through the small opening sufficiently for us to see it.

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