Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Mirrors and sound reflection 
Name: Lizzy Lizzard
Status: N/a
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Around 1993
Question:
Mirrors reflect light. Do they also reflect sound?


Replies:
Any acoustically smooth hard surface will reflect sound, so a glass mirror is a pretty good sound reflector but aluminized mylar is not. What constitutes an acoustically smooth and hard surface changes with the frequency of the sound.

John Hawley


Click here to return to the Physics Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory