E.

Science 8
Week 5
CONTENT STANDARD
The learners demonstrate understanding of the propagation of sound
through solid, liquid, and gas.

PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learners should be able to discuss phenomena such as blue sky, rainbow,
and red sunset using the concept of wavelength and frequency of visible
light.

MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES

✓ Investigates the effect of temperature to the speed of sound. S8FE-Ie-25
✓ Explain the hierarchy of colors in relation to the energy of visible light.
S8FE-If-27
 Interact!

Exploring Waves
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Waves-and-
Sound/Simple-Wave-Simulator/Simple-Wave-Simulator-Interactive
Objectives of the lesson:
 Objectives of the lesson:

01 02 03 04

Determine the Compute the Relate wavelength, Explain the

effect of speed of sound in frequency, and hierarchy of
temperature on air at different velocity of colors to colors in relation
the speed of temperature. energy that it to energy.
sound. carries.
 Properties of Waves
 or T
pressure

horizontal axis could

be:
space: representing
snapshot in time
time: representing
sequence at a
particular point in
space
 Properties of Waves
 or T
pressure

horizontal axis
could be:
space:
Wavelength () is measured from crest-to-crest representing
or trough-to-trough, or upswing to upswing, etc. snapshot in time
time: representing
For traveling waves (sound, light, water), there is a speed (c) sequence at a
particular point in
Frequency (f) refers to how many cycles pass by per second space
measured in Hertz, or Hz: cycles per second
associated with this is period: T = 1/f
These three are closely related: f =c
Properties of Waves

wavelength
compressed gas

rarefied gas
Longitudinal vs. Transverse Waves
Longitudinal vs. Transverse Waves
• Sound is a longitudinal wave, meaning that
the motion of particles is along the
direction of propagation.
• Transverse waves—water waves, light—
have things moving perpendicular to the
direction of propagation.
 What is sound?
• Sound is a wave that is created by
vibrating objects and propagated
through a medium from one location
to another.
 How sound is produced?
• Sound is produced due to the
vibration of objects.
• Vibration is the rapid to and fro
motion of an object.
 How sound is produced?
• Example: The sound of human
voice is produced due to the
vibration of the vocal cords.
HOW DOES SOUND TRAVEL?

➢ The sound produced by a vibrating

object travels through a medium
to a listener.
➢ The medium can be solid, liquid or

gas.
- Rate of sound propagation in
different mediums
Sound needs a medium to travel
• medium
Sound is a mechanical wave and needs a ________
for propagation. Sound travels through solids,
liquids and gases. Sound does not travel in vacuum.
Suspend an electric bell in an airtight bell jar. Connect the bell jar to a vacuum
pump. If the switch is pressed, we can hear the sound of the bell. If air is pumped
out through the vacuum pump, we cannot hear the sound of the bell. This shows
that sound needs a medium to travel and sound cannot travel in vacuum.

Cork
Bell jar

Electric bell
Propagation of Sound
When an object vibrates, the particles around the medium vibrates . The particle
in contact with the vibrating object is first displaced from its equilibrium position.
It then exerts a force on the adjacent particle and the adjacent particle is displaced
from its position of rest. After displacing the adjacent particle the first particle
comes back to its original position. This process repeats in the medium till
the sound reaches the ear.
The disturbance produced by the vibrating body travels through the medium
but the particles do not move forward themselves.
A wave is a disturbance which moves through a medium by the vibration of
the particles of the medium. So sound is considered as a wave. Since sound
waves are produced due to the vibration of particles of the medium sound
waves are called mechanical waves.
Mediums on the Propagation of Sound

GAS
LIQUIDS
SOLID
SPEED OF SOUND

Solids have faster

sound speeds because
atoms are hooked up
by “springs” (bonds)
 Example Sound Speeds
Medium sound speed (m/s)
air (20C) 343
water 1497
gold 3240
brick 3650
wood 3800–4600
glass 5100
steel 5790
aluminum 6420
Speed of Sound
Temperature
• Sound travels slower in lower
temperature
• Sound travels faster in higher
temperature

Average speed of
sound in air = 340 m/s
Speed of Sound
ELASTICITY AND DENSITY
• Sound can travel through any medium.
• Greatest speed in solids, slowest speed in
gases.
• Fastest in more elastic mediums, solids are
more elastic.
• In materials of the same phase, the more
dense the slower the waves travel.
Propagation of Sound through Air
 Sound Intensity
• Sound requires energy (pushing atoms/molecules through a
distance), and therefore a power.
• Sound is characterized in decibels (dB), according to:
- sound level = 10log(I/I0) = 20log(P/P0) dB
- I0 = 10−12 W/m2 is the threshold power intensity (0 dB)
- P0 = 210−5 N/m2 is the threshold pressure (0 dB)
- atmospheric pressure is about 105 N/m2
Examples:
60 dB (conversation) means log(I/I0) = 6, so I = 10−6 W/m2
and log(P/P0) = 3, so P = 210−2 N/m2 = 0.0000002 atmosphere!!
120 dB (pain threshold) means log (I/I0) = 12, so I = 1 W/m2
and log(P/P0) = 6, so P = 20 N/m2 = 0.0002 atmosphere
10 dB (barely detectable) means log(I/I0) = 1, so I = 10−11 W/m2
and log(P/P0) = 0.5, so P  610−5 N/m2
Faster Sound,
in hotter or
colder?
 • The speed of sound is
directly affected by the
temperature of the
medium. The hotter
Faster Sound, in the medium the faster
hotter or colder? the sound travels.

• Heat just like sound, is a

form of kinetic
energy.
Sample Problem
What is the speed of
sound in air of
temperature 25◦C?
Light
Let there be
light!!!
Where does light
come from?
Where does light come from?
✓ Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
believed light consisted of
particles.
✓ By 1900 most scientists
believed that light behaved as
a wave.
Wave or Particle??
 Light as a
WAVE
▪ Light acts like a wave.
▪ A wave has a wavelength, a speed and a frequency.
▪ All light travels same speed (in vacuum).
▪ The energy goes up as frequency goes up
▪ Color depends on frequency
▪ Wavelength gets shorter as frequency goes up.
 Light as a
PARTICLE

• Light behaves mainly like a wave but it can also

be considered to consist of tiny packages of
energy called photons.
• A photon is like a particle, but it has no mass.
Speed of Light
Speed of Light
• Light travels at 300,000,000
meters/second
• It takes 8 minutes for a light
wave (or a photon) to travel
from the sun to the earth.
• We see the moon because it
reflects the sun’s light
• It takes 1 second for light
reflected off the moon to
reach the earth.
Light and matter
• When light hits something (air, glass, a green wall,
a black dress), it may be:
• Transmitted (if the thing is transparent)

• Reflected or scattered (off mirror or

raindrops)
• Absorbed (off a black velvet dress)

• Often it’s some combination. Take a simple piece

of paper: you can see some light through, white
reflects, black print absorbs.
 The waves can pass through the object

The waves can be reflected off the object.

The waves can be scattered off the object.

The waves can be absorbed by the object.

The waves can be refracted through the

object.
But this speed decreases as it
moves along different media.
This characteristic of light
consequently shows bending
when it crosses the boundary
between two media. Apparent
distortion of an object seen at
the boundary between media is
observed.
• When light crosses the
boundary of two
media of different
optical density, a
change in speed takes
place.
• This change in speed is
manifested as bending
of the light ray.
• We observe that the
incident angle (<i) is
greater than the angle of
refraction (<r).
• We can see that the light
ray refracts or bends
towards the normal.
• Thus, light bends towards
the normal when
traveling from a less
dense medium to a higher
density medium.
Reflection and color
● Remember, white light contains all colors (a rainbow
or prism separates them so we can see this)
● Why does a green wall look green in the sunshine?
● Why does it look different when it’s in the shade?
● Well, in the dark, it’s black. No light reflects off it.
● A green wall reflects only green light; it absorbs all
the other colors.
Absorption and color
● Why is a black car hotter than a white car in
the summer?
● Remember light is energy. Heat is another
form of energy.
● A white car reflects all wavelengths of light.
● A black car absorbs all wavelengths of light,
absorbing the energy and turning it to heat.
• Light exhibits the
characteristics and
properties of a wave. It is
classified as an
electromagnetic wave located
between the spectrum of
infrared and ultraviolet.

• As an electromagnetic wave it
does not need a medium in
order to propagate. It moves in
its maximum speed in vacuum.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum represents the range
of energy from low energy, low frequency radio
waves with long wavelengths up to high energy, high
frequency gamma waves with small wavelengths.
RedOrangeYellowGreenBlueIndigoViolet

ROY G BIV
Frequency Ranges
● Wavelengths
104 101 1 10-2 10-5 10-6 10-8 10-10 10-12
● Frequencies (cycles per sec)
3 x 106 3 x 1010 3 x 1014 3 x 1016 3 x1018 3 x10 22
 Frequency Ranges of Visible Light

● Red light has a frequency of roughly

4.3 × 1014 Hz, and a wavelength of about 7.0 × 107 m (700nm).
● Violet light, at the other end of the visible range, has
nearly double the frequency—7.5 × 1014 Hz—and (since the
speed of light is the same in either case) just over half the
wavelength—
4.0 × 107 m (400nm).
The Refraction of Light
●The speed of light is different in different materials. We
define the index of refraction, n, of a material to be the
ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light
in the material:
●n = c/v
●When light travels from one medium to another its
velocity and wavelength change, but its frequency
remains constant.
 Wavelength: distance of a wave measured from
crest/peak to crest/peak or trough to trough
Frequency: the number of waves over a given time

Long Wavelength Short

Low Frequency High