What are waves?
Sound is also a type of wave that we cannot see. Like ocean waves, sound waves need a medium to travel through. Sound can travel through air because air is made of molecules. These molecules carry the sound waves by bumping into each other, like Dominoes knocking each other over. Sound can travel through anything made of molecules - even water! There is no sound in space because there are no molecules there to transmit the sound waves. Electromagnetic waves are unlike sound waves because they do not need molecules to travel. This means that electromagnetic waves can travel through air and solid materials - but they can also travel through empty space. This is why astronauts on spacewalks use radios to communicate. Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic wave.
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