Welcome to MCAT Basics, your ultimate guide to the essential topics you need to master for the MCAT,

brought to you by the physicians at med school coach. Every week, Sam Smith breaks down high-yield

MCAT topics, ensuring you're primed for success on test day. Join Sam as we explore the most

crucial subjects outlined by the AAMC pulled from official practice materials

and third-party resources. Get ready to elevate your MCAT game with topics tailored to maximize

your score potential. Hello, I'm Sam Smith. This podcast is going to cover sound and hearing.

First, I'm going to talk about some physics and I'm going to go into sound waves. I'll talk about pitch. I'll talk about ultrasound. And then lastly, I'll get into the decibel system. And then second, I'm going to get into some physiology. So I'll talk about how our ears are able to take these sound waves and convert them into electrical impulses that can be sent to the brain than able us to hear a bunch of different sounds, including this podcast. And this material is going to show up on two of the four MCAT sections.

That's going to be the bio-biochem section, as well as the physics chemistry section.

So if you find this podcast helpful, I think it's a pretty interesting topic,

and also something that you might see show up on test day.

Okay. topic and also something that you might see show up on test day. As I said in the intro, the first thing I want to talk about here is the physics of sound.

And I'll start by talking about sound waves.

So sound waves are quite a bit different than light waves.

And one of the things that makes them different is the fact that light waves are considered transverse waves,

whereas sound waves are considered longitudinal waves.

And the difference between these two types of waves is something that I think is important to understand.

So in a transverse wave, like a light wave, displacement of the wave moves perpendicular to the particles in that wave

as they travel through some medium.

Whereas in a longitudinal wave, which would be something like a sound wave, the displacement

of the wave is in the same direction as the bulk movement of particles in that medium.

And I think one of the best ways to visually see the difference between these two waves

is through kind of the classic physics demonstration that you may have seen in like high school physics,

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