Why does energy always travel in waves?
Energy, it seems, always travels in the form of waves. Why is this? A wave is unique, because it is a variation in something that alternates.
For example, imagine a simple illustration of a line in the form of a sign wave with alternating peaks and valleys. Now straighten that into a single straight line. Why doesn’t energy travel in a form that this straight line would mimic? Why does energy travel in a waveform pattern? What is it about waves?
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April 16th, 2010 at 4:40 am
firstly, energy can also be moved by conduction and convection which is not wave motion
an energy pulse can deform a medium
that deformation then causes another deformation in the adjacent parts of the medium and so on
thus the energy travels as a series of deformations
your straight line idea is also somewhat true
compression waves like sound travel as linear pulses along what we would call rays
however, the rays fan out into a sphere for sound
anyway, compression waves are not sinusoidal