Sound Pressure in Longitudinal Waves

Sound waves are longitudinal waves that create changing pressure in a medium. Their displacement amplitude can be modeled as a function of position and time. As one column of the medium moves, nearby columns also move. The difference between these successive displacements produces a pressure change compared with the surround...

Consider sound traveling through a medium. The longitudinal disturbances create a pressure difference between its successive columns, which then undergo oscillations.

Consider an undisturbed cylinder of the medium, with cross-sectional area A along the x-axis. Its longitudinal displacement, given by y, is a wave...