« experience our surroundings largely through
‘what we see and heat Bot light and sound are
forms of energy tht ravel in waves, When Ou
n ore we explore the
light around ws let eink
Sounds Get Things Sha
concert. The sounds are
one, The mouthpice has
that make up the ac
Inside youir eat,
‘moves inside your ea, it causes your
eardrum to vibrate. The eardrum sends the
‘ibations to small ones and a iid inside
your ear. These vibrations are sensed
and are ty
the vibidea of what a sound
Tike, draw a wavy line
‘ona sheet of paper. The distance
between the rop of one wave and
the top ofthe ext wave isa
‘wavelength. Each wave of sound
hnas a frequency. Frequency is the
number of wavelengths tha pass
by a particule point in a given
length of time, Waves with longer
wavelengths have lower frequencies.
Waves with shorter wavelengths
have higher frequencies, That means
that in one second fewer long waves
pass by than shore waves.
People can heat a wide range of
frequencies—but not all fequencies
‘of sound, Sound with a frequency
higher than we can detects called
turasound. Insect-eating bats
produce ultrasound to find food
land avoid fying iat things in
the dark, Sound with a frequency
Tower than our ears can detect is
called inrasound. Elephants
Sometimes communicate with
| ach othe using infeasound.
Sound waves can teavel though
ain They abo can travel theough
‘haters such ae solids and gid
However, sound can ral
through empty space. Outer space without air or other kinds of (Is L15 eet) a second, Sound travels
isa vacuum. A vacuum isa place matter, Because there is no matter four tove times faster chtough
| to vibrate, no sound can be made. liquids, like wates chan through ait,
Sound waves travel even faster
| Sound moves at diferent speeds through many solids.
“ depending on what material it
travels through, Sound travels Through what materials
through ai at about 340 meters can sound travel?
eran ort| Bouncing Sounds A sound that bounces back ro its A 1Pcentury scientist named Isaac
ound chrough different kinds of standing some distance away fron anid echoes, In Fac, he used echoes
| inaterials. Did you also know chat 4 large wall witha hard surface. I to measure the speed of sound.
‘ow can hear sound waves th na shout, your words wil rtwen How? He stood at one end of a
feflect, or bounce, off a surface? to you a few moments latex. Th Jong hallway and he loudly stamped
Sound waves can strike a smooth farther yow are from the wal, the his foot. Then he measured the ti
surface ikea wall othe sie of a longer i wil rake for the sound to it took for the sound to leave his
Cliff These waves also can bounce bounce hack, And the longer i wil foot, bounce off the wal atthe
off the wall and back vo you. take for you to hear thee: other end of the hall, and return
to him as an echo, He knew che
distance to the fa wall. So Newto
was able to uae his measurements
fof sound more than three centuries
ago using simple instruments, Yet
his measuremene is only isle
different from the more precise one