Today 🧒
Child: Why can’t we hear sound in space?
Sound needs air or something to travel through. Space is mostly empty, so sound can’t move there.
Child: How does sound travel through air?
Sound is like tiny waves. When you talk, your voice makes air wiggle, and the wiggles travel to our ears.
Child: What happens if there is no air to wiggle?
Then the sound has nothing to move through. It just stops and can’t reach your ears.
Child: So space is like a big empty room with no air?
Exactly. Space is almost a vacuum, which means very little air or anything else for sound to travel in.
Child: How do astronauts talk in space then?
They use radios. Radios send signals as waves that can travel through space differently from sound.
Child: Are radio waves like sound waves?
They are both waves but radio waves travel through space as invisible light waves, not by moving air.
Child: Can I see radio waves?
We can’t see them, but radios and TVs catch them and turn them into sounds or pictures we understand.
Child: So sound needs air, but radio waves don’t?
Right. Sound needs a medium like air or water. Radio waves can travel through empty space.
Child: Can I try something at home to see how sound travels?
Yes! Try talking with a fan on and off. The fan’s moving air can change how you hear sounds.
Child: This is cool! So space is silent because it’s empty?
Yes, space is silent to our ears because there’s no air. But space is full of waves we can’t hear, like radio waves. Keep asking great questions!