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Physics of Sound

BY EMILY HIE & ELSA MANSFIELD

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All sounds come from a sound source, and sounds are heard or detected by sound receivers. Our ears could be called sound receivers.

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Sound sources make sounds using vibrations. When something vibrates, it moves back and forth very quickly. A guitar string is a sound source that we can see vibrating. Our vocal chords also vibrate to make sound, so our voice is a sound source.

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Sounds are important because we can use them to communicate. When a sound source and a sound receiver both know what a sound means, they can use that sound to send and receive messages.

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higher highest

lowest

lower

We can get sounds that are higher or lower by changing the pitch of a sound. One way to change the pitch of a sound is to change the length of a sound source. A short sound source will have a higher pitch, and a longer sound source will have a lower pitch.

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Another way that we can change the pitch of a sound is by changing the tension of the sound source. When you change the tension of a sound source, you change how tight or how loose it is.

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Frequency is another way to talk about how fast a sound source is vibrating. The faster it vibrates, the higher the pitch or tone of the sound. High frequency means a high sound and fast vibration, low frequency means a slower vibration and lower sound.

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quiet

loud

We can use the word volume to talk about how loud or how quiet a sound is. Sounds with high volumes are loud, and sounds with low volumes are quiet.

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We can change the volume of a sound by directing the sound toward the sound receiver. We can also change the volume of a sound by amplifying the sound source so that it is louder.

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Molecules are the building blocks that make up everything around us. Sound travels the fastest through solid objects (like the ground) because molecules in solid objects are very close together. Sound travels slower through liquids, because the molecules in liquids (like water) are less close together. Sound travels the slowest through gases like air, because the molecules in gases are spread out apart from each other.

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Even though sound travels more quickly through water than through air, the human ear is not designed to hear sounds underwater as well as the ears of creatures like dolphins.