MOLECULES, WAVES, AND SOUNDS
Space gives rise to quarks which form atoms that join together to compose all of the organic and inorganic molecules of the material universe.
A molecule is the smallest particle any compound material can be divided into without changing into a different material.
A molecule is the next order of magnitude greater than the atom, and serves as one of the common building units of our world.
The structure of a molecule depends on the arrangement of its atoms, as well as on their kinds and numbers. For example, two different kinds of molecules may be formed depending on whether a particular atom is beside or between two other atoms.
The size and weight of a molecule varies according to the atoms which comprise it. A water molecule, for example, contains two light hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, and has a diameter of one-hundred-millionth of an inch. While larger molecules such as lead or uranium contain heavy atoms.
Without molecules, there would be no sound, no musical tones, no noise.
Without molecules, there would be no music.
Large numbers of molecules comprise the various media of gas, liquids, solids, and plasma. Sound travels within these media whenever an oscillating source causes the normally random molecules to vibrate forward and backward, producing collisions which cause the propagation of sound waves through the medium.
In their normal random motion in air, individual molecules travel at an average speed of around 1000 miles per hour, a third faster than sound. Sound travels at about 750 miles per hour in air, at sea level.
If all molecules were vibrating at the same rate and in the same direction, sound would travel at exactly molecular speed. But because individual molecules in a sound wave vibrate in many directions at different rates, the average speed of sound traveling in a medium occurs at about 30 percent less than the average random motion of the molecules.
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