Year 6 Physics

Year 6 P
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Sound and
Sound
Hearing and Hg
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Workbook
Workbook

Name:
Science Teacher:

 Please complete all of the work in order.

 Please record all work in this book.
 Read all of the information carefully.
List of Topics in this Unit.
Topic Rate your Assessment Notes for improvement
Understanding homework
(5=good 1=bad) mark for
topic
Lesson 1: How
is sound made?

Lesson 2: How is
sound
transmitted?

Lesson 3: How
fast is sound?
Lesson 4: How
does the ear
hear?
Lesson 5: The
ear and noise.

Lesson 6: Music.

Lesson 7: Revision.

Lesson 8:
Assessment

Page 2 of 75
Lesson 1: How is Sound Made?

Starter Task The sound of music…

Listen to the musical instruments
and fill in the table below.

Write down what you observe

What causes
sound?
Take a tuning fork and
strike it against a block
of wood.

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Changing the pitch

How do you change the pitch of a sound?

The pitch of a note is how high or low it sounds.

1 When I added more water and blew across 2 The longer nails had a
the top of the bottle the pitch of the sound (higher/lower) pitch.
went (up/down).

3 The shortest wind chime had the 4 I dropped each piece of wood from the
(lowest/highest) pitch. same height.
The longest piece of wood had the
(highest/lowest) pitch.

5 I put several different width rubber bands 6 I made a ruler vibrate on the edge of the
across the hole in the box. I twanged each table. I changed the length of the ruler and
rubber band. The thinnest band had the vibrated it again. The longer ruler gave the
(highest/lowest) pitch. (higher/lower) pitch.

Conclusion
The longer the thing which is vibrating the the pitch.

I think this is because

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On Firefly there is an app version
of an oscilloscope.
You can use it to measure waves.
It works a bit like a graph.

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Frequency is measured in vibrations per second ,
or, hertz (Hz)

Which trace represents the loudest sound?

A B

Which sound has the highest pitch?

A B

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 Draw arrows to connect the waves to the correct description

Wave drawing task

Draw a faster but

smaller vibration

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 Exam style questions

1a A loudspeaker makes sounds by vibrating a cardboard cone. What happens to the

vibrations of the cone as the sound gets quieter?

1b What happens to the vibrations of the cone as the sound becomes lower-pitched

2 Look at the diagrams. They show sound patterns on an oscilloscope.

A B C

a i Which pattern is most likely to have been made by a very

low-pitched note?

Sound

ii Explain your choice.

b i Which pattern came from the loudest sound?

Sound

ii Explain your choice.

c i How would the sound that made patterns A and B be similar?

iiHow would the sound that made patterns A and B be different

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 Ghost Busters!
The Most Haunted team left their microphones and oscilloscope in the Haunted House
overnight and the following sound waves were recorded during the night.
Can you match the sound waves to the correct ghosts and explain why you think you are
correct!
Ghost 1 Ghost 2

Name Name
Why? Why?

Ghost 3 Ghost 4

Name Name
Why? Why?

Ghost 5 Ghost 6

Name Name
Why? Why?

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 Dr Spooky M.T.Tomb

The ghost of Anna haunts the stairways and Michael Tomb was landlord of the
landing of the house. She is the quietest ghost house in 1801. He does not talk
but makes deep groans throughout the night! a lot and the crew only
managed to capture 2 wavelengths of him

R.U. Next Willy Beback

Robert is a fairly quiet ghost that hangs out Willy is a ghost that likes to sing. He has a
in the kitchen. He squeals out loud when he fairly loud voice and its quite high
sees his murderer - the ghost of M.T. Tomb! pitched!

Diane Rott Barry D’Alyve

The girlfriend of Michael Tomb, Diane also The most feared ghost in the house,
doesn’t like to talk. Although she has quite Barry spends all night howling at the top
a loud voice, the crew only captured 2 of his voice with a high pitched, very noisy
and a half wavelengths of her voice. scream. He is the loudest in the house.

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 Plenary Task vibrations frequency lots
second high child low
1. Frequency/pitch
Sound waves are caused by . Sound travels as sound waves.
is the number of complete waves or vibrations that go past a particular place each second.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency of the vibrations that cause it.
If there are of vibrations per , the frequency is and the sound has a high
pitch, which is like a talking.

If there are fewer (less) vibrations per second, the frequency is and the sound has a low pitch, like
a talking

2. On the first graph paper draw high frequency waves. On the second graph paper draw low frequency
waves. Label your diagram with the following words.

Low frequency high pitch child talking man talking high frequency low pitch

3. Amplitude/loudness
The loudness of a sound depends upon the amplitude of the vibrations that cause it. Big vibrations transfer
more energy than small vibrations so they are louder.
Small amplitude is like , big amplitude is like .
On the first graph draw big amplitude on the second graph draw small amplitude.
Label the following words.
whispering
Small amplitude big amplitude quite (whispering) loud (shouting) shouting

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Lesson 2
LI: HOW DOES SOUND TRAVEL?
Online starter Corrections

Discussion
1. Why on the moon do astronauts with failed radios put their helmets together to talk?

2. Why would a cowboy put his ear to a railway track to listen for an oncoming train?

The bell-jar experiment

Place a ringing clock inside the bell jar and what happens?

There is air inside the bell jar

so the sound can travel and be heard.

Remove the air from the bell jar

vacuum
and what happens to the sound?
pump on

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Once you have seen the correct answer compare it to yours. If you were
wrong copy down the correct answer.

If you were wrong, what was the mistake you made?

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Draw arrows on a particle to show how it vibrates.
Draw an arrow above the wave to show which way the energy moves.

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Draw arrows on a particle to show how it vibrates.
Draw an arrow above the wave to show which way the energy moves.

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 Exam Style Questions

1.

2.

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3.

a.

b.

c.

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4.

Keywords.

Plan and sequence.

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5.

Keywords.

Plan and sequence.

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 String Telephone
The lollipop stick will allow enough tension to be applied to the string to achieve good results by all
students without damage to the cup. It also enables larger holes to be drilled into the cups, reducing
the difficulty most people have in threading the string.
In all cases where the sting pulled free it was the knot which had come undone

Apparatus
2 polystyrene cups
1 lollipop stick (broken into 3 pieces)
8 metres of string (approx.)
Method
Make 2 holes in each cup using the point of a pencil (i.e. approx. 2mm across)
Thread the string through one hole into the cup and out through the second hole. Students can
achieve this far more easily than teachers.
Put one piece of stick into the loop formed, tighten the loop and knot the 2 parts of the loop firmly
underneath the cup.
Repeat this with the second cup.
Test the telephones by standing 8 metres apart without interfering with other groups.
Can you make a 4 way conversation?
What is vibrating here to carry the sound?
Does the cup have any effect?

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Page 21 of 75
Lesson 3: Calculating the speed of sound.
LI : How to calculate the speed of sound in air.
What is an echo and what can we use it for?
Online starter Corrections

Recall speed of sound concepts.

1 Use these words to fill in the gaps. You may use
words more
than once.
faster slower solids before

liquids after vacuum gases

a Sound can travel through ,

and .
b Sound cannot travel through a totally empty space
called a .
c Sound travels through solids and liquids than
through gases.
d Sound travels much than light.
e I see lightning I hear the thunder.

2 At a cricket match, you see the ball being hit before you hear
the sound of it hitting the ball. This is because …
Tick the
correct
answer.
… sound travels faster than light
… light travels faster than sound
… the ball travels faster than sound.

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77
5
3 A rocket explodes on fireworks night. You see Tick the
the flash of light before you hear the bang of correct
the explosion. This is because … answer.

… the sound of the bang travels slower than

the light of the explosion
… the light of the explosion travels slower than
the sound of the bang
… the rocket moves quickly through the air.

4 Look at these materials.

air oil water helium

Underline the
steel wood right words.
Cross out the
wrong words.
a Sound would travel the slowest through
and because they
are solids / liquids / gases.
b Sound would travel the quickest through
and because they
are solids / liquids / gases.

BUT how do we actually measure the speed of sound?

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 Measuring the Speed of Sound

To measure the speed of Speed(m/s) = Distance (m)

anything you use this formula: Time (s)

Example : What is the speed of a cheetah that travels 112.0 meters in 4.0 seconds?
Looking for Solution
Speed of the cheetah.
Given speed =-d = 112.0 m
4.0 sec-
Distance = 112.0 meters
Time = 4.0 seconds = 28 m/s

The speed of the cheetah is 28 meters

Relationship per second.
d
speed = -

Whenever you have an equation question you MUST lay

out your answer in this way so that you do not make
mistakes.

1)A friend standing 1000m from you fires a starting pistol.

You see the smoke from the starting pistol and 3 seconds
later you here the bang.
Light travels instantaneously from the gun to you but sound
takes some time. Calculate the speed of sound in air.

Looking for Solution

Given

Equation

2) Two men stand in a lake 600m apart.

Man A strikes a bell under the water.
Man B (who has his head under the water) starts a
stopwatch when he sees man A hit the belI and stops it
when he can hear the bell. The time is 0.4 seconds.
How fast does sound travel in water?

Looking for Solution

Given

Equation

Page 24 of 75
Sound or light – which is faster?
During a thunderstorm,
thunder and lightning are
created at the same time.
Which do you notice first?
Usually, you see lightning
before you hear thunder.
Light travels much faster
than sound.

The speed of light 300,000,000 m/s

is…

Count to 3

If you want to know how far away

lightning is then start counting after
the flash. Every second sound
travels about 340m

This means in 3 seconds it travels

approximately 1km.

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And rearrange it to find an equation to find distance

= x
D=Sxt

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Alex is awake at night because there is a thunderstorm. He
looks out of his window, and sees lightning.
4 seconds later he hears thunder.
How far awav is the storm?
Looking for Solution
Given

Equation

Alex falls asleep, but wakes up later.

He sees a very bright flash, and hears the
thunder instantly.
Where is the storm now? Expllain why?

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 Example
1.

2.

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Page 29 of 75
Extension work: What happens if you travel faster than sound?

What does subsonic mean?

Supersonic?

Sonic boom!

Breaking the sound barrier!

Which of these travel faster than the speed of sound in air?
distance time speed
(m) (s) (m/s)
small
aeroplane 600 5

jet fighter 900 2

cheetah 50 2.5
meteorite 10 000 0.35

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Plenary

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Lesson 6 The Ear and Hearing

LI : Learn the structure of the ear and how the ear functions.
To understand why the ear receiving sound is not hearing.

Starter corrections

The structure of the ear

Ear canal Inner ear Hammer Anvil

Stirrup
Eardrum Cochlea Auditory nerve

Semi-circular Eustachian
canals tube Pinna

Use the interactive ear on Firefly to help you put the labels above in
the right places on the ear diagram.

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The structure of the ear
Use the interactive ear on Firefly and look at the
model of the ear.

Describe the function of each of the parts of the ear

listed.

Ear canal
Eardrum
Semi-circular canals
Inner ear
Cochlea

Eustachian tube

Hammer Anvil Stirrup

Auditory nerve

Pinna
Page 33 of 75
 Hearing range
Set the volume and increase the
frequency of the signal provided by the
What is the maximum frequency that
signal generator.
you can hear?

Humans can only hear sounds of certain

frequencies. The range of frequencies a
person can hear is called their hearing
range.
20 Hz to 20,000 Hz

Comparing hearing ranges

100,000

10,000

1,000
frequency
(Hz) 100

10

0
human dog bat elephant mouse dolphin

Hearing ranges and hearing loss Which animals hear the lowest and the highest
Does everyone have the same hearing frequencies? Can you suggest a reason?
range?
We all have slightly different
hearing ranges People lose the
ability to hear sounds of high frequency
as they get older.
Almost 1 in 5 people suffer
some sort of hearing loss.
 Temporary hearing loss may be caused
by ear infections and colds, after which
hearing recovers.
 Permanent hearing loss and deafness
can be present at birth or occur if the ear Page 35 of 75
is damaged or diseased.
 Why do we have 2 ears?
Your ears transmit sound waves to the brain, and having an ear on each
side of the head makes it easier for us to determine where the sound is
coming from. Sometimes referred to as localization, having two ears allows
you to understand where someone is if he is talking to you in a social
setting, where construction is, or who is honking his horn.

How long does it take for sound to get from one side of your head to the other?

What does this tell you about the speed of your brain?

Try It
Close your eyes, block one ears with a finger.
Have a friend stand near you and say your
name. Ty to point at them. Now do it using
both ears. Is it easier? Repeat your experiment
to be sure. This is called binaural hearing.

How have the owl's ears evolved?

What advantage does this give the owl?

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It's not your ears that hear!

Can you think of any other examples for your other senses?
Discuss and write them down.
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 You will hear some auditory illusions, write down what you hear and then an
explanation of what is going on.

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Write in any
that you have
forgotten.

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Lesson 5: Hearing and Noise
LI: How do we measure the loudness of sound?
What can loud sounds do to our hearing?

Starter corrections.

Recap. Label the parts of the ear.

Remember the cilia?

Just like the ruler

vibrates at a
different frequency
at different lengths,
the cilia also vibrate
at certain
frequencies to
detect sounds of
those frequencies.
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 What has
happened here?

Noise can cause hearing problems.

List three ways of reducing the
List three effects of noise. effects of loud noise.

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Ear Safety
It is very important to protect our hearing. For this reason we measure sound
levels (in units called decibels dB) in the workplace to protect people who work
with loud equipment or in noisy environments.

Can you name 3 examples of noisy workplaces and how to protect hearing there?

Safe exposure times

Quick questions
1 Tick the correct answers.
My ear drum can be broken by … … talking
… the wind

… being hit very hard.

... infection

2 As people get older, they can’t hear ... loud noises

high-pitched sounds. True or false?
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The Decibel Scale

The energy of sound at a point is measured in decibels (dB). Most sounds fall between
zero and 100 on the decibel scale making it a very convenient scale to understand and
use.

What is the "threshold of pain"?

What does the table mean by "repeated exposure" and "prolonged exposure"?

Why are some sounds written with a distance next to them?

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Loudness is how we perceive the sound... NOT how much energy there is.

Decibels are an odd unit.

$30 is $10 more than $20, but 30dB is NOT 10 x louder than 20dB.

If a sound is 10 decibels louder than another, this means "10 times more energy".

If a sound is 10 decibels quieter than another, this means "10 times less energy".

Our ears work in an unusual way, they don't "measure energy" our brain perceives the noise as
"loudness"... how loud it appears to be to us. Some people are more sensitive to noise than others.

We need a large increase in energy, +20dB before the sound is twice as loud. (100x the energy)

We need a large decrease in energy, -20dB before the sound is half as loud. (0.01x the energy).

Use the following table to help you answer the questions. How many decibels would a sound
have if its loudness was twice that of city traffic?

Given Solution
From the table, the loudness of city traffic is 70 dB. City traffic = 70 dB
Looking for Adding 20 dB doubles the loudness.
The dB reading for a sound twice as loud as traffic. 70 dB + 20 dB = 90 dB
Relationship
For every 20 dB increase, a sound is twice as loud. 90 dB is twice as loud as city traffic.

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Questions
1. How many times louder than a jackhammer does the front row at a rock concert sound?

2. How many decibels would you hear in a room that sounds twice as loud as an average
(35 dB) house?

3. You have your headphones turned all the way up to 130dB.

a. If you want them to sound half as loud, to what decibel level must the music be set?

b. If you want them to sound 1/4 as loud, to what decibel level must the music be set?
(hint.... to get to 1/4. you have to halve the volume twice)

4. How many times louder than city traffic does the front row at a rock concert sound?

5. When you whisper, you produce a 10-dB sound.

a. When you speak quietly, your voice sounds twice as loud as a whisper. How many decibels
is this?

b. When you speak normally, your voice sounds 4 times as loud as a whisper. How many
decibels is this?

c. When you yell, your voice sounds 8 times as loud as a whisper. How many decibels is this?

Page 44 of 75
 Sound How much How
more energy long is
Dealing with decibels. than chatting? safe?
1 Look at this table of information about the Jet plane x10000
loudness of sounds. Chatting is 60dB. The
other sounds are listed with how much more Vacuum
x10
energy they give out compared with chatting.
cleaner
a Show this information as a bar graph on the
Whisper x0.00001
graph grid.
Make sure you fill in the missing numbers and Concert 100000
words! music
Thunder x100000
Busy street x10

b Which sound is the

quietest?

c Which sounds are the

loudest?

d Which sounds in the

table will cause hearing
impairment?

e How long could you listen to

these sound without risking ear
damage? Fill in the table.

Page 45 of 75
Sound proofing Experiment.

Hypothesis: I think that the properties of a good sound proofing material

will be

Prediction

Results (you may estimate decibels or measure if you have a decibel meter app)

Conclusions what are your final rankings.

Evaluation: Was your hypothesis right?

What does your experiment suggest might be the properties of a good insulator?

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If you were wrong in your
evaluation, write down the
actual answer here.

Plenary

Have we met our learning intentions?

Draw lines to match the words to their descriptions.

eardrum This can be broken by sounds louder

than 120 decibels.

hearing This soaks up the sound vibrations

impairment and stops the sound.

sound This is sound that no-one wants.

insulation

90 decibels Sound is measured in these.

This is damage done to your

ears. Loud noises make your
noise ears numb. If the loud noises go
on too long then the damage can
be permanent.

Above this, the sound can cause

decibels
hearing impairment.

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Lesson 6: The Physics of Music

LI : To explain how steady musical notes are formed and how they
are different from noise.

Starter corrections.

We need to know the physics of why noise is

unpredictable and why music is a pattern.

Why do we think that

we evolved to dislike
noise?

Page 48 of 75
Page 49 of 75
What are the ways that a string can vibrate?
If the ends are fixed (like on a guitar), there are only certain
vibrations that “fit” on the string. The pattern, or harmonic, is
made when a wave heading one wave adds to the reflection
heading the other way.
Each one vibrates faster than the last.

Page 50 of 75
What are the variables that affect the note?..
Musical Instruments

Percussion
In a stringed instrument?
• Striking a 2-dimensional membrane.
• Tone produced depends on geometry,
elasticity, and tension in the vibrating
surface.
• Pitch produced by changes in tension.
In a wind instrument?

Page 51 of 75
 Adding waves
Task 1

Two waves are passing through each other on a guitar string.

Wave A

4.00
3.00
2.00
Amplitude

1.00
0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
-1.00
-2.00
-3.00
-4.00
Time / s

Wave B

4.00
3.00
2.00
Amplitude

1.00
0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
-1.00
-2.00
-3.00
-4.00
Time / s

Draw the combined wave at this instant.

4.00
3.00
2.00
Amplitude

1.00
0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
-1.00
-2.00
-3.00
-4.00
Time / s

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Task 2

A short time later the waves have both moved on a little. A has moved left, B has moved to the right.

Wave A

4.00
3.00
2.00
Amplitude

1.00
0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
-1.00
-2.00
-3.00
-4.00
Time / s

Wave B

4.00
3.00
2.00
Amplitude

1.00
0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
-1.00
-2.00
-3.00
-4.00
Time / s

Draw the combined wave at this instant.

4.00
3.00
Amplitude

2.00
1.00
0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
-1.00
-2.00
-3.00
-4.00
Time / s

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Resonance All objects have a natural frequency that they
want to vibrate at. They will make this note if you
hit them. We say they RESONATE.

Ringing Bell - standing waves

Guitar standing waves

Vibrating metal plate.

Page 56 of 75
Practice drawing the first, second and third harmonics for a
stringed instrument.

Remember that the string can't move at the ends... this is a NODE

Remember the amplitude of each harmonic decreases.

Page 57 of 75
Lesson 7. Question practice.

Q1. Jean was playing her guitar. The sounds she made were picked up by a microphone
and shown on an oscilloscope screen. This is what the screen looked like when she
played a note quietly.

1 mark

(a) Draw what the screen would look like if she played the same note louder.

The dotted line shows the first quiet note.

1 mark
(b) Draw what the screen would look like if she played a higher note, of equal
loudness.
1 mark

The dotted line shows the first quiet note.

1 mark

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Q2. (a) Mark is listening to the sound from his radio.

What effect does the sound have on

Mark's ear drum?
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1 mark

(b) Mark makes his radio play more loudly.

What is the difference that this louder sound has on his ear drum?

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1 mark

(c) The sound from Mark's radio changes to a lower pitch.

What is the difference that this lower pitched sound has on his ear drum?

...................................................................................................................... 1 mark

Q3. Sound
(a) Nuala plays a drum.
She hits the skin of the drum with a drum-stick.

What is happening to the skin of the drum

when it is making a sound?

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1 mark
(b) Nuala uses the drum-stick to hit the skin of the drum in different ways.
Describe how the loudness of the sound is affected by the force of the stick hitting
the drum.

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2 marks
(c) The children turn the screws on the side of the drum to make the skin less tight.
What effect does this have on the pitch of the sound the drum makes when Nuala
hits it?
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1 mark
(d) The children in the class listen to the sound the drum makes.
What does the sound travel through to get from the drum to their ears?

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Pa..ge 60 of 75
1 mark
Q4. Sounds
(a) John makes a musical instrument using 5 sticks and a block of wood.

To make a sound, he pushes a stick down and lets it go.

Explain why the stick makes a sound.

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................................................................................. 1 mark
(b) How can he make the sound louder?

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1 mark

(c) John finds that stick 5 makes the highest note.

Describe how the length of the stick affects
the pitch of the note.

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................................................................................. 1 mark

(d) Susan puts her ear on the plastic table as

John makes a sound.

She hears the musical instrument.

It sounds louder.

Complete the sentence below to explain how the

sound reaches Susan's ear. Tick ONE box.

The sound travels through… air only.

wood and air only.

wood, air and plastic.

wood only.

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Q5 Sounds

(a) W ...h ..e..n...J..a..n..e..

.h..i.t.s...h..e..r..d..r.u
..m...,..i.t..v..i.b..r.a..t.e..s.....T..h..e...v..i.b..r.a..t.i.o..n..s.
.t.r..a..v.e
..l..t.o...T..o..m...’.s...d..r.u..m.. .

Then the rice on his drum moves.

Jane makes a flow chart. It shows the most direct path of the vibrations from
her drum to the rice.
Choose TWO objects from the box below to complete Jane’s flow chart.

Flow chart showing direct path of vibrations

1 mark
(c) Tom wants to find out if he can hear the sound of Jane’s drum from
different distances.

Jane hits her drum hard. Tom stands one metre away.
He uses a sound meter to measure the loudness of the
sound.

They repeat their test at different distances.

Here are their results.

Describe how the loudness of the sound depends on the distance

between Jane and Tom.
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Page 62 of 75
Q6 Sound

(a) Carina makes a drum by stretching a balloon

over the top of a jam jar.

She hits the stretched balloon with a beater.

It makes a sound.

a) She pulls the balloon more tightly over the jar.

This changes the pitch of the sound.

(i) Describe what pitch means.

............................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) How does the pitch change when the balloon is tighter?

............................................................................................................
1 mark

Q7 Triangles

(a) Paul hits a triangle with a metal rod.

The triangle makes a sound.

What happens to the triangle for Paul

to hear a sound when it is hit?
1 mark
.....................................................

(b) The size of a triangle affects how high or low the sound is.Paul has four triangles.

Write the letters A, B, C, and D to order the sound the triangles make from highest
to lowest.

1 mark
(c) What scientific term is used to describe how high or low a sound is?

......................................................
1 mark

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Harder Questions
Q1. Sounds

Some children were playing musical instruments.

(a) Give ONE way a drum makes a sound when it is hit.

......................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................... 1 mark

(b) The windows were closed. The children working outside could still hear the sound
of the drums.

The sound reached these children’s ears by travelling through the air and through
the:

......................................................................................................................
1 mark
Q2. Sounds

(a) Two girls put different amounts of

coloured water in four bottles.
They made sounds by blowing across
the top of each bottle.
When they blew, which bottle made
the highest note?

Bottle ..................... made the highest note.

1 mark
(b) The girl plucked an elastic band. It made a sound.

Explain why the elastic band made a sound when

it was plucked.

......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
1 mark

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Q3. Sounds

(a) Ann clamped a ruler to a desk.

She pressed down on the ruler and then let it go.

Why was there a sound when Ann

let go of the ruler?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Jack heard the sound.

What did the sound travel through to reach Jack’s ears?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark
(c) Ann shortened the length of the ruler sticking out from the desk.
She let go of the ruler from the same position as before.

Describe how the sound was different.

...................................................................................................................... 1 mark

(d) Ann fixed a pen to the end of the ruler. Jack

moved towards the table with a piece
of paper touching the pen. Jack moved steadily
and Ann plucked the ruler once.

Look at the pattern the pen made.

What happened to the loudness of the sound between a and b?

...................................................................................................................... 1 mark
(e) What does the pattern tell you about the sound at point c?

...................................................................................................................... 1 mark
(f) Explain your answer to part (e).
.............................................................................................................

1 mark
.............................................................................................................
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Q4. Guitar

(a) Julia is listening to Kumi playing his guitar.

He plucks a string.

What happens to the guitar string when it

makes a sound?

..............................................................................................................……
1 mark
(b) Julia walks away from Kumi and leaves the room.
What happens to the loudness of the sound Julia hears as she goes further away
from Kumi?
..............................................................................................................……
…..................................................................................................................
1 mark
(c) Julia shuts the door. She can still hear Kumi playing his guitar in the next room.
One material the sound travels through is air.

Name ONE other material the sound must travel through for Julia to hear it.
........................................................… 1 mark

Q5. Tuning fork

(a) Some children hit the prongs of a tuning fork on a desk. It makes a sound.
Prong

Tuning fork
What happens to the prongs so that the tuning fork makes a sound?

..................................................................................................................... 1 mark

(b) What happens to the sound made by the tuning fork if they hit the prongs harder?
.....................................................................................................................
1 mark
(c) When the tuning fork is not touching the desk, the sound is quiet.

When it touches the desk, the sound becomes louder.

Tick ONE box next to each question to show what the sound travels through to
reach the children’s ears.

What does the sound travel through when... desk air both

...the tuning fork is not touching the desk?

...the tuning fork is touching the desk? 1 mark

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Q6. Travelling sounds

(a) Jill investigated whether or not sound travelled through different

materials.

She made three telephones using plastic cups.

She used different materials to connect the cups.
One child talked through the telephone and Jill listened.

Look at Jill’s notes of her investigation.

How many different materials did Jill test?

..............................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) What was the factor Jill observed or measured to collect her results?

..............................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) Jill changed three factors at the same time.

Complete the list to show the THREE factors Jill changed in this investigation

The first one has been done for you.

1. The tightness of the line .......................................................................

2 .....................................................................................................................

3 .....................................................................................................................

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 Q7. Straw sounds

(a) Polly has a straw. She cuts one end of the straw.

She blows into the cut end of the straw. It makes a sound.

The sound is caused by vibrations.

Name TWO things that vibrate to cause this sound.

................................................ and ...............................................................

1 mark
(b) Polly thinks that changing the length of the straw may change how high or low the
note is.

What is the scientific name for how high or low a note is?

1 mark
................................................

(c) Polly cuts four identical straws into different lengths.

Her friends blow gently into the straws. The note from
each straw is different. Some notes are high and some
are low.

Describe how the length of a straw affects how high or

low the note is.

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
1 mark
(d) (i) Tania says ‘Polly’s test is not a fair test because a different person is blowing
into each straw.’

Why might Polly’s test not be a fair test if different people blow into each
straw?

..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
1 mark
(ii) Polly says ‘It might not be a fair test even if one person blows into each straw.’
Explain why it might not be a fair test even if one person blows into each
straw.

..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
1 mark

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Q8. String instruments (a) Sam makes a string instrument. He ties the string tightly.
He plucks the string. The instrument makes a sound.

Clare hears the sound.

What does the sound travel through to reach Clare’s ear?

....................................................................................................................... 1 mark
(b) Sam plucks the string again.
It sounds louder.

How did Sam pluck the string with his finger to make it sound louder?
....................................................................................................................... 1 mark
(c) Clare looks carefully at the string as Sam plucks it.

When Clare looks carefully at the string, what can she see that tells her the string is
making the sound?

.......................................................................................................................
1 mark
(d) Sam makes the string shorter by tying it further down the stick.

He ties it tightly.

He plucks the string.

How is the sound of the shorter string different from

the sound of the longer string? Tick ONE box.

With the shorter string...

the note is lower.

the note is higher.

the sound lasts longer.

the sound travels further. 1 mark

Page 69 of 75
Q9. Drums

(a) This is a picture of a famous musician.

Her name is Evelyn Glennie. She plays the drums.

Evelyn moves the drumstick downwards to hit

the drum skin. Then the drumstick bounces back
up.

Tick ONE box to show what force causes the drumstick to bounce up after it has hit
the drum skin.

a pushing force from the a pushing force from

drum skin gravity

a pulling force from the a pulling force from

drum skin gravity 1 mark

(b) Evelyn is deaf. She cannot hear the drum with her ears.

When she has bare feet, she can feel the drum’s sound with her feet.

The sound can travel from the drum through the air to Evelyn’s feet.

Name ONE other thing that the sound can travel through from the
drum to get to Evelyn’s feet.
(c) What can Evelyn feel with her feet when the drum makes a sound?
.....................................................................................................1...mark

........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................ 1 mark
(d) Evelyn can change the way she plays the drum.
She can make the sound get louder or higher.

Tick ONE box on each row of the table to show if the sound will get louder or higher.

How Evelyn The sound... The sound... does not get

plays the drum gets higher. gets louder. higher or louder.

with a tighter
drum skin
hit the drum
with more force 1 mark
hit the drum faster
Page 70 of 75
with the same force
10. Each time Polly appears on stage, Ali hits a triangle.

(i) What happens to the triangle for it to make a noise when it is hit?

...............................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) What does the sound travel through to reach Emma’s ears?

..................................................
1 mark

(e) There are lots of people watching the play. Some people are close to the stage.
Some people are further away.

Describe how the distance the people are from the triangle affects the volume of
the sound they hear.

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................
1 mark

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Page 74 of 75