In: Physics
Why does light seem to go straight through an open doorway whereas sound seems to spread out when it goes through the same doorway?
Its all because of the wavelength. The wavelength of light is in the order of 10-9 m (or nanometers), whereas the wavelength of a sound wave in in the order of 10-2 m (or centimeters). That means the wavelength of sound can be 10 million times larger than the wavelength of light so it will diffract 10 million times greater. The light does diffract, but since the wavelengths are so small, we don't really notice it.