Sound and Light

Lesson 1: What is Sound?

Lesson 2: What is Light?
Lesson One Vocabulary

 Vibration- a back-n-forth
movement of matter
 Volume- the loudness of a sound
 Pitch- how high or low a sound is
 Frequency- the number of
vibrations per second
Lesson 1: Sound

 Sound is energy that travels through the

air.
 A vibration is a back and forth movement
of matter.
 The vibrations make the air vibrate and
this is what you hear.
Lesson 1: Sound

 The loudness of a
sound is called
volume.
 Volume is measured
in decibels (dB).
 A high decibel sound
is loud and has a lot
of energy.
Lesson 1: Sound
 Sound waves move through
the air as waves.
 Some sounds are high
while other sounds are low.
 A sound’s pitch is how high
or low the sound is.
 The number of vibrations in
a second is the frequency
of a sound.
 Frequency and pitch are
related.
 A sound with high
frequency has a high pitch
and a low pitch has a low
frequency.
Lesson 1: Sound

 Sound waves move in all directions from an

object.
 A sound that hits a
hard surface bounces
back and it called an
echo.
 You can often hear
echoes in caves
and canyons.
Lesson 1: Sound

 Sound waves move like dominoes; when you

push one, the next one falls down.
 Sound waves move this same way.
 They travel through the air because particles in
the air give energy to the ones nearby.
 Sound can travel a long distance
but the particles stay in the
same place.
Lesson 1: Sound
 Any kind of matter can
vibrate and carry sound.
 Matter that carries sound
is called a medium.
 Sound waves need a
medium to travel.
 The speed of sound
depends on the medium.
 Sound travels fastest in
solids and slowest in
gases.
 Sound also moves faster
when it’s warm that when
it’s cold.
Lesson 1: Sound
 Animals can hear sounds
that humans cannot hear.
 Dogs can hear high
pitched sounds.
 Bats have excellent
hearing and when they fly
they produce sound
which bounces off
objects.
 The bat can hear its
echoes and this allows
the bat to fly in the dark.
Cool!
 Lesson Two Vocabulary
 Reflection- the bouncing of heat or light off an object
 Opaque- Not allowing light to pass through
 Translucent- allowing only some light to pass
through
 Transparent- A material that allows light through
 Refraction- the bending of light as it moves from
one material to another
 Concave lens- a lens that is thicker at the edges
than it is a the center
 Convex lens- a lens that is thicker at the center than
at the edges
Lesson 2: Light
 Light is a form of energy that travels in waves.
 Unlike sound, light does not need a medium to
travel.
 Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum
and the part that
we can see is called
visible light.
 The waves that make up
the spectrum have different
frequencies.
Lesson 2: Light
 Light waves are different
from sound waves.
 Light waves move like
ocean waves because
they move up and down.
 Light waves can travel
through matter or through
empty space.
 Light moves thousands of
times faster than sound.
 It only takes 8 minutes for
light travel from the sun
to Earth.
Lesson 2: Light
 You can feel energy in
sunlight as heat.
 You can also feel the
heat from a light bulb.
 The sun and the light
bulb both send out light in
all directions.
 But a laser gives off light
in a narrow beam which
is very powerful because
the waves are close
together.
Lesson 2: Light

 When light hits an object, the objects

affects the path of the light.
 The object can absorb the light, make it
bounce back, or let it pass through.
Lesson 2: Light
 Reflection occurs
when light bounces
off a surface.
 In most cases, light
spreads out when it
is reflected.
 But a smooth surface
does not spread out
and this is why you
can see yourself in a
mirror.
Lesson 2: Light
 Most objects absorb
some light and reflect the
rest.
 Opaque materials do not
let any light pass through
them.
 You cannot see through
opaque objects.
 Most objects around you
are opaque, like you
shoes, your desk, and a
book.
Lesson 2: Light
 Transparent materials let
light pass through. Most
kinds of glass are
transparent.
 Translucent materials
only let some light pass
through.
 Stain glass windows are
translucent.
 The difference between
transparent and
translucent is how they
spread out light.
 Translucent materials
spread more light.
Lesson 2: Light
 When light moves from
one material to another, it
bends.
 This bending is called
refraction.
 Refraction changes the
angle at which you see
things.
 Have you ever looked at a
straw in a glass of water?
 It seems to bend where
the straw enters the
water. This is refraction.
Lesson 2: Light

 A convex lens is
thicker at the center
that it is at the edges.
 It bends light waves
to bring them
together.
 A convex lens makes
images bigger.
Lesson 2: Light

 A concave lens is thicker at the edges.

 This lens spreads light waves apart.
 This lens makes an object look smaller.