• Question: Why are there echoes?

    Asked by whjamieandrhys to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 2 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Blanka Sengerova

      Blanka Sengerova answered on 2 Jul 2012:


      Sound travels because of a transverse wave which means particles of air vibrating and making the ones next to them vibrate and so on. Echoes are caused when soundwaves bump off surfaces, which is why you get lots of them where there are lots of surfaces such as in caves or a tunnel.

    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 3 Jul 2012:


      Echoes are reflections of sounds (in the same way that light is reflected off a mirror).
      Some surfaces are much better for reflecting sounds than others which is why we aren’t constantly surrounded by echoes.

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