Misconceptions about Sound and Waves
From children to college students, the concept of sound can be a slippery one. Here is a list of common misunderstandings of sound and waves [1]:
Sounds can be produced without using any material objects.
Hitting an object harder changes the pitch of the sound produced.
Human voice sounds are produced by a large number of vocal cords that all produce different sounds.
Loudness and pitch of sounds are the same things.
You can see and hear a distinct event at the same moment.
Sounds can travel through empty space (a vacuum).
Sounds cannot travel through liquids and solids.
Sounds made by vehicles (like the whistle of a train) change as the vehicles move past the listener because something (like the train engineer) purposely changes the pitch of the sound.
In wind instruments, the instrument itself vibrates (not the internal air column).
Sound waves are transverse waves (like water and light waves).
Matter moves along with waves as the waves move through the medium (such as water or air)
When waves interact with a solid surface, the waves are destroyed.
In actual telephones, sounds (rather than electrical impulses) are carried through the wires.
Ultrasounds are extremely loud sounds.
Sound travels in a beam, in one direction, like light from a flashlight