I am definitely not a physicist, but I have a question related to Physics so I thought I'd give it a try. Please excuse my ignorance. :)

I am somewhat familiar with the changes in color caused by agents such as heat, light or various chemical reactions, but what about sound waves? Is there such a thing as "sonochromism" as well?

To take this thought farther (and the real reason I'm asking) would it be possible to create paints or dyes that change color when bombarded by sounds of different intensities?

  • $\begingroup$ I don't think so. or if it exist, it should be a very complicated thing. but generally sound doesn't have anything to do with light. the only property of sound that could be useful is the energy that it is delivering. $\endgroup$ – Mobin Apr 11 '15 at 21:27
  • $\begingroup$ Good point about the energy of sound. If sound reacted with light within the range of normal sound waves, perhaps talking would cause blurred vision... :) So in practicality, the energy of sound would have to be used to cause chromism rather than the intensity of the sound itself. $\endgroup$ – Tagger Apr 13 '15 at 0:59
  • $\begingroup$ yes, but the problem is the sound energy is very low. for example the air doesn't get warm as we speak! in these situation a phenomena named "resonance" is used. with sound resonance a simple sound wave of walking can bring an energy to even bring a whole bridge down. so the thing that can be done is to put a chemical matter in certain amount (in some color) so when a sound is applied, with resonance it get warmer and the color of that matter would change. but the problem is does this chemical that interact so easily and change color, exist? $\endgroup$ – Mobin Apr 13 '15 at 5:22
  • $\begingroup$ Alright, so finding a chemical that is affected by resonance (and easily) would be one of the main things to investigate if one were to create such a dye or paint. Something to research... $\endgroup$ – Tagger Apr 13 '15 at 13:50
  • $\begingroup$ yes and I can't think of anything. :\ $\endgroup$ – Mobin Apr 13 '15 at 14:06

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