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Science Ahead
An International Lower Secondary

Science Course
© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

CHAPTER 9
Sound
How does the bee
produce a buzzing
sound?
Is the buzzing sound of

a bee high-pitched or
low-pitched?

Chapter 9 Sound
What Will You Learn in This Chapter?
• Explain the properties of sound based on the movement of

air particles.
• Relate between loudness and amplitude, and pitch and
frequency, using an oscilloscope.

Chapter 9 Sound
9.1 Hearing Sound
9.2 Pitch and Frequency
9.3 Loudness and Amplitude
9.4 Tracing Sound Waves

9.1 Hearing Sound
At the end of this section, you should be able to

answer the following questions:
What is sound and

how is it produced?
How does sound

travel?
How do we hear
sound?

9.1 Hearing Sound
How is sound produced?

How would you describe sounds?
How are these sounds produced?
When a string When the string

vibrates, it produces stops vibrating, the
a sound. sound dies out.
9.1 Hearing Sound
How is sound produced? (cont’d)
Place your fingers lightly

Talk or sing and feel your
at your throat where your
throat again. Do you feel
voice box is. Do you feel
any vibrations this time?
any vibrations?
Sound is a
form of energy
produced by
vibrations that
can be
detected by
our ears.

9.1 Hearing Sound
How is sound produced? (cont’d)
Some vibrations cannot be observed easily, such

as the vibrations on the prongs of a tuning fork.
Can you think of a way to show that the

prongs are vibrating when you strike them?

9.1 Hearing Sound
How does sound travel?

9.1 Hearing Sound
How does sound travel? (cont’d)

9.1 Hearing Sound
How does sound travel? (cont’d)

Can sound travel through a
vacuum?
Can sound travel through

solids, liquids and gases?
• Sound cannot travel

through a vacuum
because there are no
particles in the vacuum.

9.1 Hearing Sound
How do we hear sound?

9.1 Hearing Sound
How do we hear sound? (cont’d)
The funnel-shaped
pinna collects sound
waves from the air.
It then directs them
through the ear canal
to the ear drum.

9.1 Hearing Sound

2
The ear drum is a thin

sheet of membrane
stretched tightly across
the end of the ear
canal. The vibrations of
the particles in the ear
canal make the ear
drum vibrate.

9.1 Hearing Sound
3
The vibrations of the ear
drum are then
transferred to three tiny
ear bones called
hammer, anvil and
stirrup. The bones are
arranged in a lever-like
manner so that the
vibrations of the stirrup
become greater than
those at the ear drum.

9.1 Hearing Sound
The stirrup passes the

vibrations to the
cochlea, which is a
coiled tube filled with
fluid and tiny hairs. The
fluid in the cochlea then
vibrates and this moves
the tiny hairs in the
cochlea.

9.1 Hearing Sound
5
The tiny hairs respond to the
vibrating fluid by producing
tiny electrical signals.
These signals are sent
along the auditory nerve to
the brain.
The brain then interprets the

electrical signals as sounds.

9.1 Hearing Sound
Key Points
• Sound is a form of energy produced by vibrations.
• Sound travels through a medium in the form of waves as a

series of rarefactions and compressions of the particles.
• Sound needs a medium to travel. Therefore, sound can

travel through solids, liquids and gases but not through a
vacuum.

9.1 Hearing Sound
Key Points (cont’d)

• The ear detects sounds.
- Sound waves travelling through the air are collected by
the pinna. It then directs the sound waves through the
ear canal to the ear drum.
- The vibrations of air particles cause the ear drum to

move. This in turn set up vibrations in the ear bones.
- The ear bones pass on the vibrations to the fluid in the

cochlea. The tiny hairs in the cochlea translate the
vibrations into electrical signals, which are then sent to
the brain.

Chapter 9 Sound
9.1 Hearing Sound

Pitch and frequency

How can you tell a man’s voice from a woman’s voice?
How can you tell a child’s voice from an adult’s voice?
Men usually have voices of

lower pitch than women.
Children have voices of higher

pitch than adults.


What is pitch and

frequency?
How is frequency
measured?
How can we change

the frequency and
pitch of a sound?

Pitch and frequency (cont’d)

Pitch is measured in terms of frequency.
Frequency is the number of vibrations

in one second.
If an object vibrates fast, it produces a

sound with a high frequency.
If an object vibrates slowly, it produces

a sound with a low frequency.

The unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz).
If a string vibrates 200 times every second, its frequency is 200 Hz.
How many times does a drum

skin vibrate every second if its
frequency is 80 Hz?

Humans are able to hear sounds within the range of
20 Hz to 20 000 Hz.
Sounds with frequencies below Sounds with frequencies

20 Hz are called infrasounds. above 20 000 Hz are
called ultrasounds.
Ultrasound
machine uses
high-frequency
sound waves to
produce images
of our internal
Giraffes uses infrasound to
body structures.
communicate with one another
over long distances.
Compare the strings of a violin and a double bass.
How do their strings affect the pitch and

frequencies of the sounds produced?
Violin Double bass

Key Points
• Frequency is the number of vibrations in one second.

High-pitched sounds have higher frequencies than
low-pitched sounds.
• Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz). The human ear can
only detect sounds of frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to
20 000 Hz.
• Short and thin strings in a string instrument produce
sounds with higher frequencies and pitch than long and
thick strings made of the same material.
• Increasing the tension of a string increases the frequency
and pitch of sound produced by the string.

Chapter 9 Sound
9.1 Hearing Sound

Loudness and amplitude
Observe the vibrations of a ruler by following
the steps shown.
Are the vibrations of

the ruler small or
large?
Is the sound produced

soft or loud?


What is the
relationship between
the loudness and the What is the difference
amplitude of a sound between the sounds
wave? produced from large
vibrations and small
vibrations?
How can loud sounds

damage our hearing?

Loudness and amplitude (cont’d)
• The vibrations of a source of sound cause the air

particles around it to be displaced or shifted from
their original positions.
• The extent to which the air particles are displaced
is the amplitude of the sound wave.
Lead to larger Result in

Large vibrations of displacements of sound waves
the source of sound air particles around with larger
the source. amplitudes

Loudness and amplitude (cont’d)
A loud sound carries more energy

than a soft sound.
Sound waves with large amplitudes
can damage our hearing.
How do sounds with large amplitudes

damage our ear drums?
Unwanted or
Sound waves with large amplitudes loud sounds
reach our ears and push harder are known
against our ear drums. as noise.

Key Points
• The vibrations of a source of sound cause the air particles
around it to be displaced from their original positions. The
extent to which the air particles are displaced is the
amplitude of the sound wave.
• Large vibrations of a source of sound produce loud
sounds which have sound waves with large amplitudes.
Small vibrations of a source of sound produce soft sounds
which have sound waves with small amplitudes.
• A loud sound carries more energy than a soft sound, and
it can damage our hearing.
• Sound that is unwanted or loud is called noise.

Chapter 9 Sound
9.1 Hearing Sound

Tracing sound waves

How can a sound wave be displayed?
Sound travels in the form of sound waves.
An oscilloscope can be used to display the trace of a sound wave.


What is an
oscilloscope?
What is the difference
between the sound waves
of a high-pitched sound
and a low-pitched sound?
What is the difference
between the sound
waves of loud sounds
and soft sounds?

Tracing sound waves (cont’d)

Amplitude is the height of the crest or trough of the sound
wave measured from the center line.

Frequency is
• the number of waves that pass through a point in one second;
• a measure of the number of vibrations of the source of the sound in
one second.

SOUNDS
Low-pitched High-pitched
Soft sound Loud sound
sound sound
one wave one wave

amplitude
amplitude

Key Points
• An oscilloscope can be used to display the trace of a sound

wave.
• High-pitched sounds have waves with higher frequencies

than low-pitched sounds.
• Loud sounds have waves with larger amplitudes than soft

sounds.

Chapter 9 Sound
Chapter review and extension
 Reflection (Workbook page 107)
 Review Questions (Student Book pages 179–180)
 Revision Worksheet 9 (Workbook pages 108–111)
 Think-tank (Student Book page 180)

Acknowledgements
• Slide 2, ID 149532840 © Chanwit Janjarasskul
• Slide 6, playing guitar © Denis Trofimov/123rf.com
• Slide 7, vocal cord © CNRI/ Science Photo Library
• Slide 8, music tuning fork © Alexander Kharchenko/123rf.com
• Slide 12, ringing hand bell © Chonchit Jansuebsri/123rf.com
• Slide 23, soprano © elvinphoto/123rf.com; bass guitar © Andrewblue/123rf.com; baby crying ©
alicephoto/123rf.com
• Slide 24, young boy playing the drum © Auremar/123rf.com
• Slide 25, a group of giraffes © Mattiaath/123rf.com; ultrasound neck scan © Tyler Olson/123rf.com
• Slide 26, violin © Jelena Aloskina/123rf.com; double bass © nerthuz/123rf.com
• Slide 32, playing loud music © Andrey Armyagov/123rf.com

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Science Ahead

An International Lower Secondary

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

Is the buzzing sound of

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

What Will You Learn in This Chapter?

• Explain the properties of sound based on the movement of

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

9.1 Hearing Sound

9.2 Pitch and Frequency

9.3 Loudness and Amplitude

9.4 Tracing Sound Waves

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

At the end of this section, you should be able to

What is sound and

How does sound

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How is sound produced?

When a string When the string

How is sound produced? (cont’d)

Place your fingers lightly

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How is sound produced? (cont’d)

Some vibrations cannot be observed easily, such

Can you think of a way to show that the

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How does sound travel?

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How does sound travel? (cont’d)

Can sound travel through

• Sound cannot travel

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How do we hear sound?

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How do we hear sound? (cont’d)

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

How do we hear sound? (cont’d)

The ear drum is a thin

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

The stirrup passes the

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

The brain then interprets the

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

• Sound is a form of energy produced by vibrations.

• Sound travels through a medium in the form of waves as a

• Sound needs a medium to travel. Therefore, sound can

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

Key Points (cont’d)

- The vibrations of air particles cause the ear drum to

- The ear bones pass on the vibrations to the fluid in the

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8

9.1 Hearing Sound

9.2 Pitch and Frequency

9.3 Loudness and Amplitude

9.4 Tracing Sound Waves

© 2020 Marshall Cavendish Education Pte Ltd Science Ahead Stage 8