SCIENCE TEACHER

Light and sound

Sound: Sound waves LP-PHY-INT-0014

Objectives of the lesson

• To demonstrate that sound needs a medium in which to travel.
• To estimate the velocity of sound in air.
• To discuss what is meant by acoustics.
• To explain the conditions under which sound can be diffracted.

Teaching methods
• Formal delivery of knowledge about longitudinal sound waves.
• Demonstration to show that sound needs a medium in which to travel.
• Demonstration of an experiment to estimate the velocity of sound in air.
• Discussion of what is meant by acoustics.
• Formal delivery of knowledge about diffraction of sound waves.

Expected outcomes
• Students able to show that sound needs a medium in which to travel.
• Students able to describe an experiment to estimate the velocity of sound in air.
• Students able to explain that sound is diffracted.

Student pre-knowledge required for this lesson

• A longitudinal wave is one in which the direction of oscillation of the particles is parallel to the direction
of travel of the wave.
• Waves can be reflected.
• Diffraction is the spreading of waves through gaps or around objects.

Materials & resources required

Long string with a tin can on each end, two wooden blocks.
Time required
40 minutes for the lesson.
Equipment list
Slinky spring, large glass jar, vacuum pump, electric bell and battery, sponge pad, stopwatch.

Teaching the lesson

Introduction
Ask students to suggest what some sources of sound — such as the human voice, a guitar, a drum and
a loudspeaker — have in common. Identify this as a part which mechanically vibrates. Ask students to
suggest which part vibrates in each case.
Explain that this vibration causes the surrounding air to vibrate and this makes our eardrums vibrate
so that we can hear the sound.

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 SCIENCE TEACHER

1 Explain that sound travels as a longitudinal wave and consists of a series of compressions and
rarefactions. Demonstrate with a slinky spring and by drawing a labelled diagram on the board.

C R C R
C = Centre of compression
R = Centre of rarefaction

Point out that the air particles vibrate to and fro and the sound energy is transferred along the wave
without movement of the air as a whole.
The wavelength of the sound wave is the distance from the centre of one compression to the next
or from the centre of one rarefaction to the next.

2 Unlike light waves, sound waves need a medium in which to travel. Demonstrate using the
apparatus below. When the air is pumped out the ringing becomes fainter. The sound does not
disappear completely as some is transferred along the wires to the air outside the jar.

Glass jar

Electric bell
Sponge pad

Wires to battery
To vacuum pump

3 Other materials transmit sound, including liquids and solids. A ‘string telephone’ made from a
long string with a tin can on each end can be used to demonstrate that sound travels through a
solid (the string). If one person speaks into the tin at one end the sound travels along the string to
be heard by someone some distance away, through the other tin.

Sound travels faster through solids and liquids than through gases as shown in the table below.

Material Air at 0 ºC Water Concrete Steel

Speed of sound (m/s) 330 1400 5000 6000

The speed of sound in a gas increases with temperature. It is not affected by changes in pressure.

4 Explain that sound waves are reflected from hard surfaces such as walls to produce echoes. If
the reflecting surface is close to the source (less than 16 m), the echo cannot be distinguished as
separate from the original sound, this is reverberation. The characteristics of a building in relation
to sound are called its acoustics. Discuss with students some examples of reverberation, such as
in a large hall, church or gymnasium. Ask students to suggest some ways in which to reduce the
effect.

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 SCIENCE TEACHER

5 Demonstrate how to find the speed of sound in air using echoes. Stand about 100 m from a high
wall. Clap together two wooden blocks in a steady time such that each clap coincides with the
echo of the clap before it. The time between each clap is equal to the time taken for the sound to
travel to the wall and back. Measure the time taken for 30 claps (i.e. the first clap is zero). Divide
by 30 to give the average time interval, t, between claps. Measure the distance to the wall, x.

Since
distance travelled
velocity = ________________
time taken

The velocity of sound in air is given by

2x
velocity = ___
t
6 Sounds that can be heard by the human ear have wavelengths of 1.5 cm to 16 m. These waves are
diffracted by gaps and objects of similar sizes. As a result we can hear sound around corners, for example
around a doorway.

Conclusions and summary

• Sound is a longitudinal wave.
• Sound waves need a medium in which to travel.
• The reflection of a sound wave produces an echo.
• Sound waves can be diffracted.

Assessment
The following questions could be used as the basis of a class discussion or as an exercise to test
understanding.
1 In the glass jar demonstration why is the electric bell laid on a sponge pad?
2 Why isn’t it possible for sounds to be heard in space?
3 What is an echo?
4 What is meant by reverberation?
5 Why might it be possible to hear people talking around a corner without being able to see them?

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008