Sound Waves

The everyday world is filled with all kinds of sounds – the murmur of voices,
the blaring horn of an automobile, the buzzing of a mosquito, and even the
sound produced by a vessel or a ship. Each of these common sounds is
different from the others, and it is easy to tell all of them from hundreds of
other sounds.

Sounds is more than just what is heard. Sound also includes the waves used to
carry music to our radios and the transmission signals that carry live telecast of
events through television studio and through radios.

The radio time signals used in celestial navigations, which are often called
time clicks, use sound energy in broadcasting to many stations throughout the
world.
 It is important to note
that:
 Sound can break windows, shatter glasses, or even cause bridges to fall
down. This is possible because sound is a form of energy.
 Sound also makes it possible to see what is inside our bodies, this is
through the help of ultrasonic sound called ultra sound and other high
tech medical devices.
 Sound can even guide our pilots and sailors to their destinations. This is
through the devices that they are using.
 How sounds are made?

 Sound is produced when matter vibrates.

 As an object vibrates, it gives energy to the particles of matter
around it.
 Sound is a Longitudinal Wave.
 It moves with a series of compression and rarefactions.
 Sound Waves

Molecules in the air vibrate about some average position creating the compressions and
rarefactions. We call the frequency of sound the pitch.
Anything that vibrates produces sound.

When you speak, your vocal cords vibrate.

 Particles of air simply move back and forth.

A radio would NOT work in outer space because there is not any
medium for sound to travel through.

“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is present to hear it, is
there a sound?”
 Speed of Sound
Determined by the temperature, elasticity, and density
of the medium.

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 &
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.
 Ability to hear
Sounds
The human ear cannot hear all possible frequencies.
Very few people can hear any fewer than 16 Hz or any more than
about 20kHz (1 kHz is equal to 1000 kHz). Music rarely makes use
of this whole range audible frequencies.
The lowest note on a piano has a frequency of 27 Hz and the
highest note a little more than 4 kHz.
Frequency-modulated (FM) radio stations broadcast notes up to 15
kHz. These can be heard through hi-fi receivers.
 DID YOU
KNOW??
Humans can only sense sound within the frequency range of
about 20 Hz to about 20000 Hz.
Vibrational frequencies beyond 20 000 Hz is called ultrasonic
frequencies while below 20 Hz are known as infrasonic
frequencies.
Some animals like dogs can hear sounds as high as 50 000 Hz
while bats can detect sounds as high as 100 000 Hz.
 Intensity Vs.
Loudness

Sound Intensity is measured by various

instruments like oscilloscope.

Loudness is a psychological sensation that

differs for different people.
The unit of intensity level
for sound is the decibel
(dB), which was named after
Alexander Graham Bell who
invented telephone.
 Frequency &
Pitch
 Sounds can be described by high or low pitches.
 Pitch depends on how fast the particles of the medium
vibrate.
 Pitch is the number of waves in a given amount of
time, also known frequency.
 Meaning the pitch depends on the frequency.
 Pitch
 A measure of how high or low a sound is.
 Pitch depends on the frequency of a sound wave
For example,

- High pitch
- Low pitch
- High frequency
- Low frequency
- Shorter
- Longer
wavelength
wavelength
For Sound to be
heard
You need 3 things:
1. a source that produces the sound
2. a medium to transmit the sound
3. an organ of the body that detects the sound

Sound enters the outer ear, vibrates eardrum, enters

middle ear and vibrates liquid-filled inner ear.
Human Ear
 Outer Ear
 The outer ear acts as funnel for the waves.

 The waves travel through the ear canal and hit the lightly
stretched membrane called the eardrum causing it to
vibrate.

 The vibrations then

enter the middle ear.
 Middle Ear
 The middle ear contains the 3 smallest bones in the
body.
 hammer, anvil, stirrup

 The vibrations travel

through the 3 bones
and are transmitted to
a liquid-filled inner ear.
 Inner Ear
 The inner ear contains the cochlea.

 Cochlea is snail shaped

 Contains liquid and hundreds of
cell attached to nerve fibers
 The nerve fibers form one larger
nerve that travels to the brain
where they are interpreted as
sound.
 MENTAL
EXERCISE
1. Sound is produced by the
(_i_ra_i_n) of objects.

ANSWER: VIBRATION
2. What unit is used to
express sound intensity?

ANSWER: DECIBEL (dB)

3. What part of the human
body can detect sound
waves?
ANSWER: EAR
4. Sound waves travel faster
in _________ than in liquids
and gases.
ANSWER: SOLIDS
5. What instrument is used to
determine sound intensity?

ANSWER:
DECIBEL METER
THANK
S