The back-and-forth vibrational motion of the particles of the medium would not be the only observable phenomenon occurring at a given frequency. Since a sound wave is a pressure wave, a detector could be used to detect oscillations in pressure from a high pressure to a low pressure and back to a high pressure. As the compressions (high pressure) and rarefactions (low pressure) move through the medium, they would reach the detector at a given frequency.
Learner's definition of MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. : related in such a way that each thing makes the other thing impossible: not able to be true at the same time or to exist together. â often used after not to describe things that can exist together or at the same time. War and peace are mutually exclusive. [=war and peace cannot exist at the same time]. mutually exclusive events. [+] more examples [-] hide examples [+] Example sentences [-] Hide examples. In a marriage, love and conflict are not mutually exclusive. [=both love and conflict can exist in a marriage at the same time]. [+] more examples [-] hide examples [+] Example sentences [-] Hide examples.
A widely held view is that temperature-dependent and genotypic sex determination are mutually exclusive, incompatible mechanismsâin other words, a reptile's sex is never under the influence of both sex chromosomes and environmental temperature.