Sound

What are waves?

Light and sound travels as waves. Waves can be described by their amplitude,
wavelength and frequency. The speed of a wave can be calculated from its
frequency and wavelength.

Waves are vibrations that transfer energy from place to place without matter - solid,
liquid or gas - being transferred. Think of a Mexican wave in a football crowd. The wave
moves around the stadium, while each spectator stays in their seat only moving up then
down when it's their turn.

Some waves must travel through a substance. The substance is known as the medium,
and it can be solid, liquid or gas. Sound waves and seismic waves are like this. They must
travel through a medium. It is the medium that vibrates as the waves travel through.

Other waves do not need to travel through a substance. They may be able to travel
through a medium, but they do not have to. Visible light, infrared rays, microwaves and
other types of electromagnetic radiation are like this. They can travel through empty
space. Electrical or magnetic fields vibrate as the waves travel through.

Types of waves - Longitudinal and transverse waves

You should be able to describe the characteristics of transverse and longitudinal waves.
Transverse waves
In transverse waves, the vibrations are at right angles to the direction of travel and
energy transfer.

Light and other types of electromagnetic radiation are transverse waves. All types of
electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed through a vacuum, such as through
space.

Water waves and S waves (a type of seismic wave) are also transverse waves.
 Longitudinal waves
In longitudinal waves, the oscillations are along the same direction as the direction of
travel and energy transfer.
Sound waves and waves in a stretched spring are longitudinal waves. P waves (relatively
fast moving longitudinal seismic waves that travel through liquids and solids) are also
longitudinal waves.
Longitudinal waves show area of compression and rarefaction. In the animation, the
areas of compression are where the parts of the spring are close together, while the
areas of rarefaction are where they are far apart.

Amplitude, wavelength and frequency

You should understand what is meant by the amplitude, wavelength and frequency of a
wave.
Amplitude
As waves travel, they set up patterns of disturbance. The amplitude of a wave is its
maximum disturbance from its undisturbed position. Take care, the amplitude is not the
distance between the top and bottom of a wave.
 Amplitude and wavelength
Wavelength
The wavelength of a wave is the distance between a point on one wave and the same
point on the next wave. It is often easiest to measure this from the crest of one wave to
the crest of the next wave, but it doesn't matter where as long as it is the same point in
each wave.
Frequency
The frequency of a wave is the number of waves produced by a source each second. It is
also the number of waves that pass a certain point each second. The unit of frequency is
the hertz (Hz). It is common for kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz) and gigahertz (GHz) to
be used when waves have very high frequencies. For example, most people cannot hear
a high-pitched sound above 20kHz, radio stations broadcast radio waves with frequencies
of about 100MHz, while most wireless computer networks operate at 2.4GHz.

Sound waves are longitudinal waves that must pass through a medium. Echoes
are reflections of sounds.

Sounds are vibrations

Sounds are made when objects vibrate. The vibration makes the air around vibrate, and
the air vibrations enter your ear. You hear them as sounds.
You cannot always see the vibrations, but if something is making a sound, some part of it
is always vibrating.

Sound vibrations can travel through different materials

Sounds as vibrations can travel through many different materials.

 Sound can travel through solids, like metal, stone and wood.
 Sound can travel through liquids, like water.
 Sound can travel through gases, like air.

Sound vibrations travel better through some materials than others. For example, sound
vibrations travel faster in solids than in gases.
Sound cannot travel through a completely empty space (a vacuum), which has nothing,
not even air, in it. If there is a vacuum between a sound-making object and our ears, we
won't be able to hear the sound.
 Visit the following web site to see a virtual lab of sound in a vaccuum.

Science of sound animations - Resources

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/s/sound/belljar.asp?strReferringChannel=resources&strReferringPageID=t
cm:4-248295-64
Screen clipping taken: 3/07/2013 1:35 PM

Pitch of a sound

The pitch of a sound is how high or low the sound is. A high sound has a high pitch and a
low sound has a low pitch.
 A short string gives a higher-pitched sound than a long string when they are plucked.
 A tight drum skin gives a higher-pitched sound than a loose drum skin.

.
 Sound as a wave caused by vibrations
 Sound waves are longitudinal waves.
 Their vibrations occur in the same direction as the direction of travel.
 Sound waves can only travel through a solid, liquid or gas.

A compression is a region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are closest together.
A rarefaction is a region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are furthest apart.

Figure 1: Compressions and rarefactions on a longitudinal wave

As seen in Figure 1, there are regions where the medium is compressed and other regions
where the medium is spread out in a longitudinal wave.
The region where the medium is compressed is known as a compression and the region
where the medium is spread out is known as a rarefaction.

The diagram below shows how air particles are pushed together or spread apart by the
vibrations of the drum membrane. Label a rarefaction and a compression.

Vibrations
When an object or substance vibrates, it produces sound:
 the greater the amplitude, the louder the sound
 the greater the frequency, the higher the pitch.

Visit the web site and play with pitch and loudness and compare the waves produced.

Speed of sound animations - Resources

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/s/sound/oscilloscope.asp?strReferringChannel=resources&strReferringPa
geID=tcm:4-248286-64
Screen clipping taken: 24/07/2013 1:03 PM
Study the following waves and answer the questions in the table.

Question Answer

Visit the following interactive and alter the amplitude and

frequency of the sound wave.

BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Amplitude, wavelength and frequency

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/waves/generalwavesrev3.shtml
 These diagrams show snapshots from oscilloscope traces of three sounds.

Sounds 1 and 2:
 the sound waves have the same frequency, so the sounds have the same pitch
 sound 2 has a greater amplitude than sound 1, so sound 2 is louder.
Sounds 2 and 3:
 the sound waves have the same amplitude, so the sounds have the same loudness
 sound 3 has a greater frequency than sound 2, so sound 3 is higher pitched.

Sound 1 Sound 2 Compare loudness Compare pitch

Speed of sound.
 Sound travels through gases, liquids, and solids at different speeds.
 Near room temperature, the speed of sound in air is 343 m/s.
 Sound travels more than four times faster in water and more than seventeen times faster in steel
than it does in air.
 In general, sound travels slowest in gases, faster in liquids, and fastest in solids.
Answer the following Questions

1. The distance from the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave is called:

a. The amplitude
b. The wavelength
c. The frequency

2. What are the units of frequency?

a. m/s
b. s
c. Hz

3. Which is a correct equation?

a. wave speed = frequency × wavelength

b. wave speed = frequency + wavelength
c. wave speed = frequency ÷ wavelength

4. Which statement about light waves is correct?

a. parallel to the direction of energy transfer

b. perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer
c. rotating around the direction of energy transfer

5. Some types of waves are longitudinal. This means that the oscillations are:

a. They are longitudinal

b. They are transverse
c. They are transverse only when reflected

6. The faster an object vibrates:

a. The louder the sound it makes.

b. The higher pitched the noise it makes.
c. The bigger its amplitude.

7. The bigger the vibrations when an object vibrates:

a. The louder the sound it makes.

b. The higher pitched the noise it makes.
c. The bigger its frequency.

Complete the following sentences

1. Sound waves are ____________ waves.

2. Sound waves are made when objects ____________.
3. Sound as vibrations travel faster in __________ than in _________________.
4. The speed of sound in air is ____________ m/s
5. Sound cannot travel in a _____________.
6. The greater the _________ the louder the sound.
7. The greater the __________ the higher the pitch.