In article <4a744518@news.povray.org>,
Warp wrote:

[...]

>   A sound wave (nor an electromagnetic wave for that matter) is not some
> kind of sine wave which goes through the air. The sine wave function you
> see drawn on a picture is just the representation of the function which
> tells which direction the wave is "pushing" at certain point (and how
> "strongly" it's "pusing"). The sine wave drawing is just a graph which maps
> time to amplitude ("strength" of the sound wave), it's in no way meant to
> represent the *physical* appearance of a sound wave.
>
>   A sound wave is simply a phenomenon of air molecules pushing (and pulling)
> adjacent air molecules. The phenomenon traverses through air. The maximum
> strength at which this "pushing" happens is the amplitude of the wave, and
> the rate of change between "pushing" and "pulling" is the frequency. The
> distance between two "pushing" peaks is the wavelength.

Did you read one or more books that explain this and possibly more
with this level of clarity and language (more or less)? Could you cite
their names? 

How come molecules "push" and "pull"? How come the strength varies?
I'd first think that it always gets weaker.

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