Sound Is Produced By Vibrating Objects

● When an object moves ‘backwards and forwards’ (to-and-fro) rapidly, we say that the object
vibrates or that the object is 'vibrating'. ● Sound is
produced when an object vibrates (moves to-and-fro rapidly).
● In other words, sound is produced by vibrating objects.
● But in other cases, the vibrations of the sound producing object are so small that we cannot
see them easily, we have to feel the vibrations of such an object by touching it gently with the
fingers of our hand.
Ex
• Mosquitoes and bees make a buzzing sound by vibrating their wings very, very rapidly
• Actually, when we talk, air from the lungs passes up the windpipe.
● This air makes the vocal cords in our voice box to vibrate rapidly.
● And vibrating vocal cords produce the sound (of our talk).
● Thus, sound is produced when our vocal cords vibrate.
● The vibrations of our vocal cords are small, so we can only feel them with our hands.
• If we blow across the mouth of an empty test-tube,then a whistling sound is produced.
● This sound is produced by the vibrations of air present in the test-tube.
● Thus, sound is produced when the air column enclosed in a tube vibrates.
● The sound of a flute (bansuri) is produced by the vibrations of air column enclosed in
the flute tube. ● The sound
of a bursting balloon is produced by the vibrations of air enclosed in the balloon (when it
escapes).
• If we hit the stretched membrane (or skin) of a tabla, the membrane starts vibrating and
produces a sound ● Now, if
we put a few small pebbles on the membrane of this sound producing tabla, the pebbles
will start jumping up and down showing that the tabla membrane is vibrating while
producing sound.
● Thus, sound is produced when the membrane (or skin) of a tabla vibrates.
● When we strike at the membrane (or skin) of a drum, it vibrates to produce sound.
● Thus, sound is
produced when the stretched membrane (or skin) of a drum vibrates.
● If we switch on a transistor radio, the
thin cone of its speaker vibrates and produces sound
● We can feel these vibrations if we place our fingers
gently on the cone of the speaker.
● So, in a radio or television, the thin cone of the speaker vibrates 'backwards
and forwards' rapidly and produces sound. ● Thus, the
sound of a radio (or television) is produced by the vibrations of the cone of speaker.
we conclude that: Sound can be produced by the following methods: (i) by vibrating strings (as
in a sitar), (ii) by vibrating air columns (as in a flute), (iii) by vibrating membranes (as in tabla),
and (iv) by vibrating plates (as in a bicycle bell).
Sound Produced By Humans:
● The human beings produce sound by using the voice box which is called 'larynx'.
● Voice box (or larynx) is
situated in our throat at the top of the windpipe (or trachea).
● The human voice box (or larynx) contains two
ligaments known as vocal cords.
● The vocal cords are a kind of strings.
● Sound is produced
by the vibrations of vocal cords.
● The vocal cords are attached to muscles which
change the tension (stretching) in the cords and the distance between the cords.
● Normally, the muscles of vocal cords are completely relaxed due to which the
vocal cords are separated and loose so that air from the lungs passes through them without
producing any sound.
● Thus, when we are not talking (or
singing), the two vocal cords are far apart with a lot of gap between them.
● When we want to speak, the muscles of vocal cords contract due to which the two vocal cords
become stretched and close together leaving only a narrow slit between them.

● The lungs pass a current of air between the two vocal cords.
● This
air makes the vocal cords vibrate.
● And the vibrating vocal cords produce
sound.
● Thus, when we talk or sing (or make any other sound), we actually make our
vocal cords vibrate. ● And
vibrations of vocal cords by expelled air produce vocal sounds.
● When we talk or sing, then the frequency of sound produced by us changes continuously.
● The changes in
frequency of sound while talking or singing are brought about by the action of muscles attached
to the vocal cords in the voice box. ● When the muscles attached to vocal cords
contract and stretch, the vocal cords become tight and thin, and a sound of high frequency is
produced. ● On the other hand, when the muscles relax, the vocal cords
become loose and thick, and a sound of low frequency is produced.
● The vocal cords of a man are about 20 mm long.
● The vocal cords of a woman are
about 5 mm shorter than man.
● Due to the shorter vocal cords, the frequency (or pitch) of a
woman's voice is higher than that of a man.
● Small children have very short vocal cords due to which the frequency (or pitch) of their voice
is very high. ● This is why their voice is shrill.

● So, it is due to the different frequencies (or different pitch) caused by

the different lengths of their vocal cords that the voices of men, women and children are
different.
Propagation Of Sound
● Sound is produced by the vibrations of an object.
● When an object vibrates
back and forth in air, then the molecules of air close to this object also start vibrating back and
forth with the same frequency. ● These vibrating air molecules pass on their
motion to the next layer of air molecules due to which they also start vibrating back and forth.
● This process goes on and on.
● And
ultimately, all the air molecules around the sound producing object start vibrating back and forth
(just like the vibrating object). ● When the vibrating air molecules
fall on our ears, the ears feel these vibrations as sound.
● Thus, when an object vibrates (and makes sound), then the air
around it also starts vibrating in exactly the same way and carries sound to our ears through the
vibrations of its molecules.
● And we say that a sound wave
travels from the sound producing object to our ears, through the air.
Sound Needs A Medium For Propagation
● The substance through which sound travels is called medium.
● The medium can be a solid
substance, a liquid or a gas.
● The transmission of sound is called propagation of sound.

● So, by saying that sound needs a medium for propagation, we mean that sound needs a solid,
liquid or gas for transmission. In other words, sound needs a material medium like solid, liquid
or gas to travel and be heard.
● Sound can travel through solids, liquids and gases but it
cannot travel through vacuum (or empty space).
● Sound can travel through solids, liquids and gases because the molecules of solids,
liquids and gases carry sound waves from one place to another (through their vibrations). Sound
cannot travel through vacuum because vacuum has no molecules which can vibrate and carry
sound waves. ● So, a material medium like air, water, wood, etc.,
is necessary for the transmission of sound from the 'source of sound' to our 'ears'.
➔ The case of moon (or outer space)
● The moon has no air or
atmosphere at all. It is all vacuum (or empty space) on the surface of moon. ● Sound cannot be
heard on the surface of moon because there is no air on the moon to carry the sound waves (or
sound vibrations). ● So, we cannot talk to one another directly on the moon as we do on earth,
even though we may be very close● If an astronaut talks to another astronaut on the moon, he
would see the lips moving but no sound will be heard at all. ● This is because sound cannot
travel through the vacuum which exists on the surface of moon. ● Similarly, there is no air (or
any other gas) in outer space to carry sound waves. ● It is all vacuum in outer space due to
which sound cannot be heard in outer space. ● Thus, the astronauts who land on moon (or walk
in outer space) are not able to talk directly to each other. ● The astronauts who land on moon (or
walk in outer space) talk to each other through wireless sets using radio waves. ● This is
because radio waves can travel even through vacuum (though sound waves cannot travel through
vacuum).
Speed Of Sound: ● The speed of sound depends on the nature of medium (or material) through
which it travels. ● The speed of sound is different in different materials. ● In general, sound
travels slowest in gases, faster in liquids and fastest in solids.
● The speeds of sound in air (a gas), water (a liquid) and iron or steel (a solid) are given below
Material Speed of sound 1. Air 340 m/s 2. Water 1500 m/s 3. Iron (or Steel) 5000 m/
● If a train is very far away from us, we cannot hear the sound of approaching train through the
air. ● But if we put our ear to
the railway line made of steel, then we can hear the sound of the coming train easily even if it is
quite far away.
● This is due to the fact that sound travels much more faster through the railway line made of
steel than through air. ● In fact, sound
travels about 15 times faster in steel than in air.
● So, if we want to hear a train approaching from far away, it is more convenient to put the ear
to the railway track (railway line) because the sound of train travels much more faster through
solid railway track made of steel than through air.
➔ Sound travels slower than light ● The speed of sound in air is about 340 m/s and the speed of
light in air is 300,000,000 m/s. This means that sound travels at a slow speed but light travels
much, much faster than sound. ● In fact, the speed of light is very great as compared to the
speed of sound. ● So, though sound may take a few seconds to travel a distance of a few
hundred metres, light will take practically no time to reach a distance of even a few kilometres.
● We will now give an observation from our everyday life which is based on the low speed of
sound in air but very high speed of light. ● It is a common observation that in the rainy season,
the flash of lightning is seen first and the sound of thunder is heard a little later (though both are
produced at the same time in clouds) ● It is due to the very high speed of light that we see the
flash of lightning first and it is due to comparatively low speed of sound that the thunder is heard
a little later.