Refraction of Sound
The bending of the sound waves when they enter a medium where the speed is different. Refraction, or bending of the wave path, is followed by a change in wave speed and wavelength. As a result, changing the medium (or its qualities) changes the speed of the wave. Refraction occurs when waves travel from one medium to another. Sound wave refraction is most noticeable when the sound wave passes through a material with progressively altering characteristics.
Refraction of Sound
A sound is a vibration that travels as a mechanical wave across a medium. It can spread via a solid, a liquid, or a gas as the medium. In solids, sound travels the quickest, comparatively more slowly in liquids, and the slowest in gases.
A sound wave is a pattern of disturbance caused by energy travelling away from the sound source. The constituents of sound are longitudinal waves. This demonstrates that vibrational particle propagation and the direction of energy wave propagation are parallel. When made to vibrate, atoms begin to oscillate. This continuous back-and-forth motion results in the formation of a high-pressure and a low-pressure zone in the medium.
These high- and low-pressure zones are called compressions and rarefactions, respectively. As a result of these locations transmitting to the surrounding media, the sound waves go from one to the other.