What cant longitudinal waves travel through?
Vacuum. They need some sort of medium like air, solids, ground (P waves from earthquakes), fluids, and so on. These media transmit the wave energy from one location to the next with little damping. Soft spongy stuff like a sponge, rubber pads, shock absorbers, and so on. Anything that will not transmit the wave energy from one location to the next. Actually the wave starts out but quickly damps out in this kind of medium. So this may not be a correct answer if your instructor thinks just a little bit of travel constitutes “travel through.” Loose grain media like sand, snow, gravel, packing material, and so on. Again the wave energy will not transmit… in this case because it is rapidly dispersed and thinned out, causing rapid damping.
