Spreading the sound
E-Mail Tsukuba, Japan - A team of researchers lead by the University of Tsukuba have created a new theoretical model to understand the spread of vibrations through disordered materials, such as glass. They found that as the degree of disorder increased, sound waves traveled less and less like ballistic particles, and instead began diffusing incoherently. This work may lead to new heat- and shatter-resistant glass for smartphones and tablets. Understanding the possible vibrational modes in a material is important for controlling its optical, thermal, and mechanical properties. The propagati...