[Dick Bachert]

Ann, He may have responded further down in this thread, but light, sound and several other physical phenomenon are governed by The Law of Inverse Squares.
It states that the effect of the phenomenon falls off at the inverse square of the distance from the source.
A listener situated next to a sound source will hear 1/4 the volume by moving to 2 feet from the source (the square of 2 being 4 and the inverse is 1/4). Moving back to 3 feet away, he will hear 1/9 (the inverse square of 3 = 9, ergo 1/9). 4 feet will give him 1/16, etc., etc.
Hope this helps.

[Ann Archy]

YIKES....my head is exploding!!! :) I think I understand in my little housewife brain now.