Question

what happens to the particles of matter as sound waves travel
wwrite like 8 grader and easy using basic word

Answer 1

Sound is made by vibrations. When something vibrates (like a speaker cone, a guitar string, or your vocal cords), it pushes on the air particles next to it. Those particles move a little bit forward, then back. That push makes the next particles move, and the motion passes along as a wave.

In air the wave looks like areas where particles are close together (compressions) and areas where they are farther apart (rarefactions). In solids or liquids the particles jiggle and bump their neighbors, passing the vibration along. The particles themselves don’t travel far with the sound — they just vibrate around their spots while the sound energy moves through.

Simple points:
- Particles vibrate back and forth as sound goes by.
- The sound is energy moving; particles mostly stay near their original place.
- Bigger vibrations = louder sound. Faster vibrations = higher pitch.

A quick test: stretch a slinky and squeeze and release it to see compressions and rarefactions move along — that shows how sound moves through air.