🧠 Music Feels Magical — But It’s Just Waves
Sound is a wave. It is air or electric signal that moves up and down, fast or slow.
When you speak or sing, your voice makes waves in the air.
Computers can’t hear the way you do.
So instead, they measure the wave many times per second and turn each point into a number.
That number becomes a byte.
🔉 Sampling: How a Computer Listens
Imagine drawing dots on a wave.
You say “Hi” — the computer listens 44,000 times every second and writes down where the wave is.
Each dot = a number
Each number = 8 or 16 bits
All those numbers = a music file
That’s how .mp3 or .wav files work!
🎧 How It’s Played Back
When you hit “play”:
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The computer reads the numbers
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It tells the speaker to move in just the right way
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Your ears hear the wave again
It feels like magic — but it’s just math.
🧠 What You’ve Learned
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Sound is a wave
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Computers take tiny samples (snapshots) of the wave
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Each sample is a number
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Those numbers are stored as bits
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Playing music means reading the numbers and shaking the speaker the same way