What type of wave is produced by a vibrating object and travels through matter?

• A. Sound
• B. Light
• C. Radio wave
• D. X-ray

Answer: (A)

Sound waves are mechanical waves created when something vibrates. When an object vibrates, it pushes and pulls on the surrounding particles, creating compressions and rarefactions that move through the medium as a wave. Because they rely on matter to carry the disturbance, sound waves need a medium and cannot travel through a vacuum. Electromagnetic waves like light, radio waves, and X-rays, on the other hand, can travel through empty space and are produced by vibrating charges, not by a vibrating object in the same way. So the wave produced by a vibrating object that travels through matter is sound.