Introduction To Sound

Sound:
 Sounds are made when an object vibrates (kinetic energy)
 These vibrations reach the ear causing the air next to the ear drum to vibrate
 The compression (particles close together) and rarefactions (particles far apart)
creates a sound wave which is carried through the air to your ear.
o Sound waves are usually longitudinal waves

Sound Wave:
 A mechanical wave produced by objects which need a medium (solids, liquids and
gases) to travel through.

Pitch:
 A musical tone determined by the number of waves that pass in a time period
 The more waves that pass through the higher the pitch
 The less waves that pass through the lower the pitch

Frequency:
 Is the number of wave per second
 It is measured in Hertz

Amplitude:
 The vertical distance between a peak and trough
o Peak/crest - top of the wave
o Trough - bottom of the wave
 It is measured in metres

Wavelength:
 The horizontal distance between the crests or between the troughs to two adjacent
waves
 Measured in metres

Sound Energy

Compression:
 Part of the longitudinal wave where the particles are close together

Rarefactions:
 Part of a longitudinal wave where the particles are further apart

Speed of Sound:
 Sound waves can travel through different mediums and its speed varies (-340 metres
per second in air)
o Air = 340m/s-1
 Sound travels fastest through solids
 Sound travels the slowest through air

Sound vs Light Energy

 During a thunderstorm, thunder and lightning are created at the same time. Usually,
you see lightning before you hear thunder. Light travels much faster than sound
o Speed of light = 3x108 m/s
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Distance (m) Time (s) Speed (m/s)
Small aeroplane 600 5 120
Jet fighter 900 2 450
Cheetah 50 2.5 20
Meteorite 10 000 0.35 28 571