39       Sound (noise) is not typically as difficult to understand as people think it is. Sound energy is basically a wave of energy in the air. If you think about that wave of energy as a wave of pressure, it becomes easier to understand. I like to use visual objects to help people begin to understand the physics of sound and how different surfaces interact with sound pressure waves differetntly. Although they are not nearly as popular as they once were, picture a racquet ball court. You've got a hardwood floor and sheetrock walls. The court is 20' wide x 25' deep and 15' tall. This is a room made up of all hard surfaces. The blue rubber ball is the sound. If a player hits the ball with the racquet, the ball hits the wall or the floor and is reflected - along with the sound that is made by the racquet hitting the ball and the ball hitting the wall. Now, instead of one ball, imagine that the player hits 1,000 balls at the same time in all directions. What happens? The balls that strike the walls or the floor near the player instantly reflect off of the surface with nearly the same energy as they left. The balls that gravel the greatest distance and reflect back will not nearly have the same amount of energy. What happens here? The racquet balls that travel the furthest have begun to slow down by the time they hit the wall, the wall absorbs some of the impact energy AND they will continue to loose energy after the reflection. This is a simple but fair representation of sound and how it works. What would happen if you line the same racquet ball court with huge down comforters? What would happen if instead of using racquet balls, you used super balls? What if the builder used 36" stud spacing? What would happen if the builder used 3" stud spacing?