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Do beds possess inelastic properties? Is my statement correct?
Please help me determine if my statement about the situation written below is correct by the "physical laws" just by natural curiosity.
After I helped my sister remove her bed from our bedroom, the room seemed empty and there was a hallow echo observed from all noises made because a large inelastic mass was missing. The bed has inelastic properties because of its soft-cloth material covering it although it does have springs... Thus, when it was gone there was more wall surface area for sound waves to bounce off of (elastic collision), hence creating the echo effect). And that's why one could observe the hallow echo sound.
That was my physics approached explanation to this situation. Am I correct or wrong (please explain why)? Is there another explanation to this situation? Please provide well written feedback if you disapprove my hypothesis or have a comment.. Thanks in advance!
+10 to best answer.
Thanks NNRR4U, and thank you for the nice comment too. Yes I am very observant. =)
I am curious now, why after a few days the hallow echo sound is not apparent to our ears. Do our ears adjust to the change in sound acoustics so it becomes normal sounding or something?
1 Answer
- NNRR4ULv 51 decade agoFavorite Answer
Hi, Neo,
In a nutshell, you're right ... and you're also very observant!
Softer materials like the fabric of curtains, sofas, and beds, tend to absorb sound waves, while hard, flat surfaces like walls, ceilings, and floors tend to reflect them. It's common to use "acoustic tiles" made of absorbent material in recording studios and perhaps in the band room in your school, specifically to eliminate the echoes and reduce the overall noise level.
You may also notice less of an echo in a room with hard furniture (dressers, chairs, tables) than in an empty room, simply because the sounds are reflected more randomly and tend to attenuate (become lower in volume) before they finally return to your ears.
If you're interested in experimenting, take the long cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels and hold it to one ear while someone else walks around the room and whistles or whispers. If you close your eyes, you may find it difficult to decide where the person is because the tube changes the path taken by the sound on its way to your ear. This changes the "inter-aural delay" (the relative times at which the sound arrives at each ear) and fools your brain into "calculating" the sound's origin incorrectly.
Have fun!
