-is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the

range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations. The mechanical vibrations that can be interpreted as sound are able to travel through all forms of matter: gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas. The matter that supports the sound is called the medium. Sound cannot travel through a vacuum.

Sound

Properties of Sound Waves Reflection Diffraction Interference Reverberation

Reflection- is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. The law of reflection says that for specular reflection the angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the angle at which it is reflected.

Reflection involves a change in direction of waves when they bounce off a barrier

Reflection of sound waves also leads to echoes. Echoes are different than reverberations. Echoes occur when a reflected sound wave reaches the ear more than 0.1 seconds after the original sound wave was heard. If the elapsed time between the arrivals of the two sound waves is more than 0.1 seconds, then the sensation of the first sound will have died out. In this case, the arrival of the second sound wave will be perceived as a second sound rather than the prolonging of the first sound. There will be an echo instead of a reverberation.

Diffraction involves a change in direction of waves as they pass through an opening or around a barrier in their path.

Diffraction is when a wave goes through a small hole and has a flared out geometric shadow of the slit. Diffraction is a characteristic of waves of all types. We can hear around a corner because of the diffraction of sound waves. For instance, if a wall is next to you when you yell, the sound will parallel the wall. The wall may stop, but the voice doesn't; sound will almost turn the corner of the wall. This is diffraction.

 Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. Is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air. This is most noticeable when the sound source stops but the reflections continue, decreasing in amplitude, until they can no longer be heard.

In comparison to a distinct echo that is 50 to 100 ms after the initial sound, reverberation is many thousands of echoes that arrive in very quick succession (.01 1 ms between echoes). As time passes, the volume of the many echoes is reduced until the echoes cannot be heard at all.

 Speed of Sound- is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a

sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at 20 C (68 F), the speed of sound is 343.2 metres per second (1,126 ft/s). This is 1,236 kilometres per hour (768 mph), or about one kilometer in three seconds or approximately one mile in five seconds. sound wave is a pressure disturbance that travels through a medium by means of particle-to-particle interaction. As one particle becomes disturbed, it exerts a force on the next adjacent particle, thus disturbing that particle from rest and transporting the energy through the medium.

A sonic boom When an object passes through the air, it creates a series of pressure waves in front of it and behind it. These waves travel at the speed of sound, and as the speed of the object increases, the waves are forced together.

Amplitude: the height of the wave, measured in meters. Wavelength: the distance between adjacent crests, measured in meters. Period: the time it takes for one complete wave to pass a given point, measured in seconds. Frequency: the number of complete waves that pass a point in one second, measured in inverse seconds, or Hertz (Hz). Speed: the horizontal speed of a point on a wave as it propagates, measured in meters / second.