Sound

Using the diagram, deduce how sound is produced

Watch the simulation of sound
waves produced by a loud speaker
Observations
1. What observations do make regarding the
pattern of particle vibrations?
2. What happens to air particles region X and Y?
What does this imply about sound waves?
3. Based on your observations, guess learning
outcome for the todays lesson.
Producing sound waves
⦿ Sound is produced by air molecules vibrating
back and forth.
⦿ When a musician plays any musical instrument,
sounds spread outwards from their instrument.
Anyone nearby can hear the sounds, which
shows that sound can travel through air. Sound
can also travel through solids and liquids.
• For example, place your
ear against a table. Ask
someone to tap the table
– you will hear the tapping
sound very clearly
How sound travels
• You should remember that air is
made up of tiny particles called
molecules. By thinking about these
particles, we can explain how
sound travels.
⦿ When a loudspeaker makes a sound, its cone vibrates back
and forth. This pushes the air molecules next to the cone
so that they move back and forth with the same frequency.
⦿ These molecules then push on the next layer of molecules
so that they also start to vibrate. These molecules push on
the next ones, and so on. The molecules only vibrate from
side to side, but the vibration travels outwards through the
air. We call this a sound wave.
⦿ Note: Molecules of the air do not travel all the way from
the loudspeaker to your ear. You hear the sound because
the vibrations are passed along from one molecule to the
next.
Bell jar Experiment: Sound and a
vacuum
• The picture shows an experiment to
find out whether sound can travel
through a vacuum (an empty space,
with no air in it). An electric bell is
hanging in a glass bell-jar.
⦿ At first, the girl can hear it ringing. Then the
air is pumped out of the jar, so there is a
vacuum in the jar.
⦿ Now the girl cannot hear the bell. She can
see that it is still ringing.
⦿ This confirms that sound needs a material to
travel through. The material can be solid,
liquid or gas. Sound cannot travel through a
vacuum.
Brainstorm!!!
Reflection of sound
⦿ Reflection of sound occurs when a sound
wave strikes a relatively hard or dense
object. Reflected sound is called echo.
Ultrasound
⦿ Sound with a frequency of more than
20,000 Hz is called ultrasound.
⦿ It is too high pitched for humans to hear,
but other animals (such as dogs, cats and
bats) can hear ultrasound.
⦿ Ultrasound has many applications in
medicine, including ultrasound scans to
check on the health of unborn babies.
Applications reflection of sound
our daily life situation
1. Echolocation
Sending out ultrasound waves and interpreting the returning
sound echoes is called echolocation (echo + location). Bats
flying at night find their meals of flying insects by using
echolocation. They send out as many as 200 ultrasound squeaks
per second. By receiving the returning echoes, they can tell
where prey is and how it is moving. They can also veer away
from walls, trees, and other big objects.

Note: A number of animals that live in water use echolocation,

too. Dolphins, toothed whales, and porpoises produce
ultrasound squeaks or clicks. They listen to the returning echo
patterns to find fish and other food in the water.
Applications of sound traveling in
our daily life situation
2. Sonar
Instruments that use echolocation to locate
objects are known as sonar. Sonar stands for
“sound navigation and ranging.” The sonar
machines could detect sounds coming from
submarine propellers. Sonar devices could also
send out ultrasound waves and then use the
echoes to locate underwater objects. The
information from the echoes could then be
used to form an image on a screen.