All through the day we hear different types of HOW IS SOUND PROl)UCl])

sounds- honking of vehicles, chirping of birds,

Touch a sound box o f th e m usic s .
ringing of phones, ticking of the clock and . l1ecl off. You. Yslen
so on. Most of our communications happen Your home. w h en
N
sw1tc
. ., .
. 1 i\l
Will I1
feel anything. ow sw1tc 1 1t o n anct (1t
through sounds we produce while we speak and up the volume of the system. Stand 1- f1t111t
listen . Some sounds are loud and unpleasant n r
of one of the speakers; you wilt f ° 111
like the horns of vehicles and some are faint . ee1 ti
vibrations of the music. Yo u wiIJ feel s· . le
like the whisper, the buzzing of a mosquito or . . . h
v1brat1ons when you touc your throat . t
. · 1n11la
. w h 1'l e sp ea k m' g. So you W1. t11
the ticking of a clock. Some sounds are pleasant Your f 1ngers
. d b . see
like chirping of birds. sound 1s produce y the vibra tions of '
body. It is a type of energy. Vibration 1- a
What is sound? sa
rapid back and fort h movement of a body
-Sound is a form of energy that produces a
1

'- Tuning Fork

sensation of hearing in our ears)
A tuning fork is used
EXPERIMENT 1 in the laboratory. It is a
fJ
U-shaped piece of metal I
I

Sound waves produced by vibrations with a stem and two arms

called prongs. The prongs
vibrate and produce
sound when they are hit
against a rubber pad. Fig. 7.2 Tu11i11gfork

Let us perform experiment 2 to prove that

sound is produced by a tuning fo rk due to
vibration of its prongs.

(a) Plucking a rubber band (b) Striking a frying pan

EXPERIMENT 2
Fig. 7. J Sound p roduced due to vibration
Vibrating tuning fork
Take a metallic pencil box and stretch a rubber
band along its longer side. Insert a pencil or a
sharpener at the two ends of the pencil box so
that there is some gap between the rubber band
and the pencil box.
Now flick the rubber band. Do you hear any
sound? Look carefully, you will see the rubber
band vibrating in the middle.
f:~: ·::-··
., f1 ..
,• : ' ·:.··
You can also do the investigation by hanging a ' .··
frying pan freely with a string. Strike the pan
with a spoon or a stick and touch it. You will the
hear a sound and also feel the vibrations. ig. ?.3 A light ball moves away when 1·t wuches
F'
p rong of a vibrating tuning f ork
r::: ,.~ea
f, dN"oW,
·th ball and suspend it with a
sn1all p1 . tuning fork and strike
take a d.
other are called compressio~~ :·and those
in which they are away from each other are
ea · inst a ru
bber pad.
A soun 1s called rarefactions.\
·
~r ongs aga. B ·ng the sounding tunm 1
i
g
: it~~ ced by t._thnb You will notice that
1 1 EXPERIMENT 3
~uo the p1 a11.
1

1~ near and fro. This shows that the

i (or .i1 ·UJllps to Understanding sound waves as ripples
I webaii J etuning fork are vibratm .
g.
i o~sof th
Ir~
do We Hear Sound
~o\\'
body1.s struck by some force, it vibrates.
,
1ineoa object vibrates, it causes move~ent
1ine0 any ding air particles. These particles
.1. surroun
~uie. the air particles close to them, l'Vh1ch _
.
\ ipUltO · . Fig. 7.5 Ripples in water
,un th vfbrateToo. Thus, the energy gets
~es em Take a stainless steel pan or a plate with raised
ro , d from the vibrating body to the
trMli1err~ • . Th
. . edges which can hold about a litre of water. Now
~
;ll[!OUil
ding a
·i
'-r -
p Aarticles and further. 1s type strike the pan or the plate with a spoon or a
·.,1movement is called sound waves. We cannot tuning fork You will hear the sound and feel the
iidt plate vibrating. Now look at the surface of water.
lound trave!~ th~~ rm .!L'!.ayes. ~ound Do you see ripples in water?
111ves are transmitted from one location to
mofuer to reach our eardrums. The waves
1io ~~drums so that we hear the sound. Sound Needs a Medium to
Thus, sound is a form of energy produced
by Travel
niorating body. Even though we do not see
lliem, the vibrations travel to our eary
Sound travels through air, water and c~n
t'lfaction (region where particles lie away from each other)
also travel through solids such as wood,
steel and brick walls . Thus sound needs a
I!· c·~.[ .R
. . , . ·~· ~le _llR-_. c
1
llinl
.
Qj~~ m~te rial med
sounait" n6wium
e"':e~~to "con
travestan
l. The
media. ~ und waves move better through
1
t in spee

densely packed matter. He.gee, sound waves

diffedrent
of

. Press10n (region where particles lie close to each other) travel better through solids.\
7
f;. .4 Sound _.,,,, If you ever put
11
propagates through compr essions and rarefactions your ear on a railway track, you will be able
'You to hear the sound of the train moving on the
llund· could see the air particles near a rails at
a distance. You will not hear this in
' ~l\\et:g ~ody, they would have looked the air. Soun
d travels slower when you move
~oPpe~n? hke the ripples a stone makes when higher .!!P in the
atmosr.,here where the air is
hopagat into a pond. When a sound wave thin. ~~un
d wave would not travel at all in
;e
1Push:~~ particles in the air alternately the-absence of mattry This is why you cannot
•vay fro ose togetp__er and then pulled hear anything in space
lib lll. eac)i h ~ which is a vacuum. In
taling Particleot er. The regions in which vacuum, there --
are no particles that will vibrate
s are · hed close to each and transmit the sound.
'livs1es 8
 -ri::ll() ,e(, --:\-....,'-I.. Cl,\ I , , ' '· \;
\~ - I \ \. , ,; ' I '
y o· '-
\' V , - "" "' - '
. . I! .' . ~....._
EXPERll\lF NT 4 is: Frequency ot vibration of the sound Wave
determines the pitch of a sound. vVhen s
Sound does not travel in vacuum
sound wave is created, the particles in tha
medium vibrate, i.e., they n'love to and f e
.d.
or they oscillate. he rapi 1ty of vibratioro
or the number o sci·11ahons . per second~.
.b
called the frequency o f v1 ratiQn. Frequencb
. h. . y
is expressed in h ertz wh 1c 1s wntten as Hz. A
frequency of 1 Hz is equivalent to 1 vibration
Vacuum in l second. If the frequency of vibration is
pump
higher, the sound will have a higher pitch as
compared to a sound where the frequency of
Fig. 7.6 Sound doe..~11ot travel i11 vawwn vibration is lower.
Place a clock that ticks loudly inside a glass jar. / Pitch of a sound depends upon the following:
Now slowly remove the air from inside the jar
• The length of the string: Smaller the
with the help of a vacuum pmnp. What do you
vibrating string, higher is the pitch.
observe? The ticking of the clock slowly fades
away and finally the ticking cannot be heard at • The thickness of the string: A thinner
all. \(his confirms that sound needs a medium string produces a high pitch sound.
to travel.\
• The tautness or tightness of the string:
A tight string vibrates faster to produce
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOU N D high pitch sound. A guitarist tightens
Sound has three main characterist ics: pitch the string of the guitar to produce a high
which is determined by the frequency of pitch tune.
sound wave; (loudness which is determined
by the amplitude of sound wav~ and quality E XPERll\lEN T 5
which is determined by the source of the
sound. The pitch of a sound depends upon the
frequency of the sound wave
Pitch
Do you find a
difference in the
voice of your father (a) Lower frequency causes
and your mother? lower pitch
Is your mother's
voice shriller than
your father's. A
shriller sound has
a high pitch. {Pitch
of a sound refers (b) Higher frequency causes
Fig. 7.8 Sound of different pitcli
higher pitch
to how shrill and Take 3-4 rubber bands of different thickness.
___________________
1

how bass a sound Fig 7. 7 Freq111!111.:y of vibmlio11

.__ Stretch them across an empty box or a dish~-'
determines tire pitch

• pHYSICS f
 This is ·al ~·o W'hv, d oos
;:,
ooo d at kee pinI:>° a
are ver yl 'O
. _.• ~zt-e b,-.- one ,,i th you r tin ge.!'$. You
• •
nics .
gua rd.. A b~t can pro duce and hea r ultr aso
\. ti' ~"\••
.,P. • ~ ••
•
me,-
,ibr ntc The sou nd p n)<lu ~
~'!£ ~::~ ~ nJ ,\li H be dirre rent from th~
· :..:~.:;~tJnner one \\ill produc e a .shr iller
. ·.:' ... ,-.,r;.r:J ,,ith high pitch. The num
ber
- •.;. ~:,.: ~inner ruoocr oond ,ibrntes arc • 1\

· ~-. _. . the ~ uc.n..::- or th e " -an~ produ,..·cd

~· ..;,~ l,.J.J.
I •

it':~-_:;.:~ roho->J b:1l.nd ,,ill b e more. He.nee

~ -:. ;~hi-,rl
·"""C
..,_...: :·
lcr.
..A .. \

. .. : J!~\.) in~ a.sc the pitc h and get a .shr iller

·:":~ ~ .•- tighr enil l$! the rub bcr ban ds. This
~~~.~~e ch~ ruM:l'_;. bim d , i b r-.atc faster ,,ith
\\\ /
.
soun d
~·:_.:. -. .:: i:3,u u11d1:?:.., iis prey using ultra sonic

\udible an d In au dib le So un ds
::c:ml)wthat the sou nd we hea r is pro duc ed
:•· ~ \i br.iting bod y. But can we hea r
all
-,c(is produce d b~- an~.- ,i bra ting bod y? Not
ngs. The
~ it1 unlb arc aud ible to hun 1an bei
,:c:iility of a sou nd dep end s on the num ber
nts
Ele pha nts can hea r low not es: Ele pha
and wha les can hea r freq uen cies mu ch
low er
(infr-asonics) tha n the ran ge ofh um an aud ibil
ity.
.:, fro m
Ele pha nts are able to hea r a sou nd com ino
anc es
up to abo ut 8 kilo met ers away. The dist
eac h
from ,,-hi ch they can com mu nic ate wit h
oth er is also anr 'nn o a.L.ll .l::,•

·:,ibrations per sec ond or the freq uen cY. _-\

~:"J1<l \~ith freq uen cy less tha n 20 per sec
~nd Lo ud ne ss
:: 20 Hz is not aud ible to our ears . _-\.ls o, we The roa r of a lion has a low pitc h and
the
~ot hear sou nd wan~s of freq uen cy abo ve mel odi ous stra in of a cuc koo has a hig h
pitc h.
...ooo Hz. is it
Hnw eve r a lion's roa r is mu ch loud er. v\That
It is
\ounds f -
~ etl . 0 a ~qu enc y less tha n 20 Hz
are tha t det enn ine s the lou dne ss of a sou nd?
llz infrasorucs and tho se abo ve 20, 000 the am plit ude of the vib rati on.
rar.~ e- called ultrasonics. Thus, the aud
ible
Ii
--se tor human ear es bet wee n 20 Hz and
10.
'00OHz (20 kHz ).'\ ..__.._ :\mp litud e

iiUdibility -
Uiffi and Sounds ofother Anima.ls :\lea n
erent · posi tion
¾dproct animals have diff eren t abil itie s to hea r
'o uce sou nd· Th e}~also hav e voi ce box es
; r Proctucino (a) Loud soun d
:JJd cro:11-:_ ~ sou nds , like ch ~ ino in bird
s
«~ ~g m fi<2gs. - - z:,
). h gll1 dogs· D
/ ear so d. ogs and som e oth er ani mal s
/Oo o l-Iz• ~ s at freo uen cies hio
·
111at 18 ...: o
her tha n
'
• •p Mea n posi tion
· ecial dog, h· why peo ple can not hea r (b) Soft soun d
.v 1stle' w hil e a dog reac ts to it.

l,J,,,,. ~ ~) :~, - > Fis. -~-1() Loudness depends on amp litud

Ji-_:1/\
e
 When you pluck a stretched rubber band
the distance through which you pull it, is its
amplitude.
j/ TABLE 7. 1
Differences between Loudness and .
Pitel
( The maximum displacement of the vibrating Loudness Pitch
body on any one side of the mean position is
called the amplitude of the vibra~ . 1. Loudness is the 1. Pitch is that
~ e loudness of a sound depends on the property of a characteristic of a
sound by virtue sound by Which a
an1plitude of the vibration that produces it. The
of which a loud shrill sound can
greater ; amplitude of the wave, the louder is
sound can be be distinguished
the sound
distinguished from a grave or a
VT "
:...:-t,oudness of sound is measured in decibels from a faint one. flat sound.
(dB).
2. Loudness
EXPERIMENT 6 depends on the 2. Pitch does not
amount of sound depend upon the
Vibrating drums produce loud sound energy received energy received
by the ears per by the ears.
unit time.
-
3. It does not
3. It changes
depend on
with change in
frequency of a
sound. frequency.

Fig. 7. 11 The drum vibrates when struck and

produces sound
Take a drum and strike it with a soft hammer.
What do you observe? You hear the sound
but do not notice any to and fro motion of the
drum.
Put some light ping-pong balls on the drum
and strike it again with a soft hammer. What
do you observe? A loud sound is heard and
the ping-pong balls dance up and down.
What do you conclude?
Jumping balls show that the drum is vibrating
with a greater amplitude. This vibrating
motion of the drum produces sound. The air
"Qle Decibel Scale
~..!}~j~J~y_el_o[_g _souQ_d is meas~ed ir
de~b~eL( dB ~) The minimum fo°iidness of asounc
audible at frequency 3000 Hz is considered tc
be zero sound level in decibel (i.e., zero dB). Ii
the loudness increases 1Otimes of the reference
level (zero dB), sound level becomes 10 dB
If loudness increases by 100 times, the sounc
level becomes 20 dB.
The sensitivity of the human ears varies witli
frequency. The weakest sound correspon dil1°<
'J11t
to zero decibel cannot be heard by us.
re
sounds of intensity 140 decibels or !11°
produce pain in the ear and will ultirn.i'.e ~
1

particles present inside the drum perform to . 11ow1n-

damage the delicate tissues. The to .b 1:
and fro moti~n in the air column, prod)-lcing I ·1 e.
a louder soun~ figure illustrates the level of sound in 'e~
of various sounds .
 Decibels Threshold of pain frequency, same amplitude but they will sound
160 different if their sources are different. This is
150 the reason that we can easily differentiate the
140 sound coming from a violin and a sitar by just
t--13 -0---:1.
hearing the tune.
l~ raJl.,q-e 120
do-¢
Generally, the sound produced by an
110
100
instrument contains several frequencies. (The
90 sound of single frequency is called a mono tono/

• 80 Monotone is a droning unchanging tone. The

70 Greek word for 'one tone' is monotonia which
Vacuum cleaner
Tdl\lhone bell 60 is closely related to monotonus. A continuous
so sound specially someone's voice that is
40 unchanging in pitch and expressiveness or
30 rise or fall in the voice. However in Physic( a
20 collection of tones is called a not~ a note, the
10 Conversation minimum frequency is called th/ fii°ndamental
Whispering 0
...___ __.
~ Threshold of
audibility ton1 ,and thf rest of the frequencies are called
overtone' ~on g the overtones which are 2,
Fia. i.12 Sounds of different intensity are produced by
0
different activities 3, 4, 5, .. .. . times the fundamental frequency
are called harmonics) For example, in a note of
TABLE 7.2 5 Hz, 7 Hz, 10 Hz, 15 Hz and 18 Hz; 5 Hz is called
the fundamental tone and 7 Hz, 10 Hz, 15 Hz,
Effect of Different Intensities of Sound on
the Human Ear 18 Hz are all overtones. Among these ove1tones,
the whole number multiplies of the fundamental
Intensity level Effect on huma n ear tone, like 10 Hz and 15 Hz, are called harmonics.
of sound in dB
The quality of a sound is determined by the
Threshold of hearing presence of harmonics and overtones in it.
I10 - 30 Very faint Greater the number of overtones present in a
I
I given sound, more musical is the sound.
j 40 -60 Moderate
I
60 - 70 ~- -+ ---__ ___ J MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Loud
Different kinds of sounds may produce
70 - so
Very loud different effects on us. Music is something
which all would love to hear. Let us take a look
Noise , uncomfortable at some common musical instruments that
have been developed over years.
Threshold of pain
Depending on the way the air vibrates, they
f\ Painfully loud can be classified into four groups
'<lla\·
lhe tty or Thnbre Stringed Instruments
quali
of so ty of sound d A stringed instrument has strings mounted
Und. 'fwo epends on the source
Pfi
vs,es 8 sounds can have the same over a specially designed frame, which is
@
1 partially hollow from inside. The au,.
r\ d
-r:-:
lfr'L rr.OfU..V U/ -
-....J.('J,,:_;.' ..::..=..,---: . ·- -
]) ·..
Some of these instruments are fl~t
U~ (L,( \~,- ;- •
. . trappe . l h
Th
ms1de, forms an air column. e air. 1
co umn whist e s ehnaz., bug1e, bagpipe
.
h
e, trulll.
increases the intensity of musical sound. ' ' arrnoniuP.et,
These mouth organ, etc.
stretched strings are made to vibrate by
methods (plucking, striking or rubbin
over them) to produce sound.
various
g a bow l' 1
• • • 1, , , 1,

Flute
l11,

\\

Bugle

Fig. 7.14 Wind or reed instruments

Percussion or Membrane
Instruments
All percussion instruments have a taut skin
Fig. 7.13 Stringed instruments over a
hollow metal or wooden frame. When the
skin~
The frequency of a vibrating stri~g dep struck, it produces a musical sound.
ends on:
1. Length of the string: With the inc The frequency of sound dep ends on
rease in the size
the length of the vibrating string, frequen and nature of the membrane as wel
cy l as the
decreases and vice versa. tension with which it is stretched.
2. Tension: A tight string produc
es sound Some of these instruments are dholak,
of high frequency whereas a loose tabla,
one mridangam, drum, etc.
produces sound of lower frequency.
3. Mass per unit length: Athin string
produces
sound of high frequency whereas a
thick
one produces sound of lower frequency.
Some examples of stringed instruments
ar~ tai:,
v~ ,_violin.. !. .tanpura, ~ t¥ , haI], santoo
ri etc.
Tabla
Wind or Reed Instruments Fig. 7.15 Percussion or membrane instrume
nts
Wind instruments make use of vibrati
ng air
column. In these instruments, air is
blown Mixed Instruments
either directly or indirectly through the These instruments are simply beaten or
reeds. struck
The frequency of a sound can be cha in a rhythm to produce sounds.
nged by
increasing or decreasing the length
of the Some of these instruments are manjira (cym
vibrating air column. biU~).
jal tarang, ghatam (mud pots), bells, etc.

pHVSICS8
s
the frequency of each musical circumstances. A pleasant sound has a regular
,orang, .
·al ted by using appropnate amount of wave pattern. But the waves of a noise are
I11 }• adjus
,'\11115 irregular and do not have a repeated pattern.
-,tel'·
\\0

Mud pot (Ghatam)

(a) Musical Sow1d

Jal tarang
(b) Noise
Fig. 7.16 Mixed instruments
Fig. 7.17 1Wusical sound and noise-wave pattem

ESPER1MENT 7 The difference between musical sound and

noise are given in the table below:
Making a Jal tarang
TABLE 7.3
Gather a few tumblers, may be eight or ten. Difference between Musical Sound
If you can get them in different sizes, it is and Noise
good. Otherwise, you can use bowls of the
same size. Arrange them in a semicircle on Musical sound Noise
the floor, in increasing order of the size.
Pleasant, smooth and Unpleasant, jarring and
Fill them up with water in increasing level
agreeable to the ear. disagreeable to the ear.
fromone end to the other. Now, get a solid
wooden stick and strike the bowls in a series Produced by periodic Produced by irregular
of small taps moving from one bowl to the vibrations which are vibrations which are
next. Experiment and enjoy the tinkling. regular and continuous. discontinuous.
Try tostrike in a rhythm and create a tune.
Change the water levels in the bowls and There are no sudden There are sudden
observe how the sounds change. changes in loudness changes in loudness
and pitch. and pitch.

NOISE Sound level is generally Sound level is generally

low. high.
Do you lik
N0 e to hear the bustle of a busy road? Example: Sounds
YoudO Sounds produced by
aPark. S not. You prefer a solitary place in produced by musical the honk of a vehicle.
~kds c~~e sounds like a musical strain or instruments.
ll'Jitating likmg are pleasant, while some are
and irr e that of honking f An unpleasant Dovou KNOW?
lhe .egu1.ar sound 1s· called '- a noise.)
d d1fferen b People with total hearing impairment can
epends ce etween sound and noise
upon the listener and the communicate by using sign language.

@ I ____,
I