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Sound
 August 3, 2019

Production of
sound

Sound is a result of vi-

brating objects that
cause a vibration in air
molecules that lead to a
series of compressions
and rarefactions.

Recall the sound is a lon-

gitudinal wave. Compres-
sions are when air mole-
cules are closest togeth-
er and rarefactions are
when they are furthest
apart.

We hear sound when the

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 sound waves reach our
ear and cause our ear
drums to vibrate. We can
hear frequencies from
about 20 Hz to 20 kHz –
Any more or any less is
very difficult for our ears
to pick up.

Remember that all waves

(including sound) have a
frequency and an
amplitude:

The frequency of a
wave is the number
of waves that pass
a fixed spot per
second (unit=Hz).
The higher the fre-
quency, the higher
the pitch of the
sound.
The amplitude of
the wave is the
maximum displace-
ment of the vibrat-
ing particles. The
:
 larger the ampli-
tude, the louder
the sound will be.

Speed of sound

Speed of sound

through various

mediums

Sound waves cannot

travel through vacuum.
They must be transmit-
ted through vibrations of
particles within a medi-
um. The closer the parti-
cles are within the medi-
um, the faster sound will
travel. For example, the
speed of sound is:

330 m/s in gases

:
 i.e. air
1500 m/s in liquids
i.e. water
5000 m/s in metals
i.e. metals

Air is a gas so particles

are very spread out,
which is why sound does
not travel very fast. Met-
als on the other hand are
generally solids, and par-
ticles are very closer to-
gether allowing fast
transmission of sound
waves.

Determining the speed

of sound in air

Above we state that the

speed of sound is approx-
imately 330 m/s in air.
We can experimentally
prove this by using this
set-up:
:
 Two microphones are
separated by exactly 1m.
They are connected to a
digital timer that starts
when it gets signal from
microphone 1 and stops
when it gets signal from
microphone 2.

A hammer is used to hit a

metal block which gener-
ates sound. The sound
waves will hit micro-
phone 1 first which
starts the timer, and
then hit microphone 2
which stops the timer.

Since the microphones

are separated by 1m, the
sound has traveled 1m in
0.003 seconds.

Since speed = distance /

time, 1/0.003 = 330
:
 m/s

Echoes

Just like light waves can

be reflected off a
boundary, so can sound
waves. When sound gets
reflected off a surface, it
generates an echo.

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