SOUND
Sound is produced when objects vibrate. The vibrating body causes the medium (water, air,
etc.) around it to vibrate and create sound.
Sound waves consist of areas of high and low pressure called compressions and rarefactions,
respectively.
C CR C R R
Rarefaction(R) compression(C)
Sound wave is a longitudinal wave, all longitudinal waves requires a medium to propagate. As
such, sound waves do not travel in a vacuum
Examples of vibrating sources:
Musical instruments, like drums, guitar, piano etc.
Hitting a piece of iron metal with a hammer
Loudspeakers (Consists of a cone which vibrates under the effects of electricity and
magnetism)
Explosion resulting from explosives.
Tuning fork
Tuning fork producing sound waves
Loudness
Loudness depends primarily on the amplitude of the sound [Link] larger the
amplitude, the louder the sound. When you increase the volume of a radio you increase
the amplitude of the sound wave.
Pitch
The pitch of a sound refers to whether it is high (sharp), like the sound produced by a
woman (soprano), or low, like the sound produced by a man (bass).
The physical quantity that determines pitch is the frequency. The higher the frequency,
the higher the pitch.
Natural frequency
This is the frequency of the system at which it will vibrate freely. For example if a pendulum is
displaced and left to swing freely, it will swing at the same frequency with decrease in
amplitude and forms a damped wave as shown in the diagram below.
Damped wave
A damped wave is a wave whose amplitude of oscillation decreases with time and it eventually
goes to zero. This occurs if no external energy is supplied to the system.
For the oscillating system to maintain constant amplitude of oscillation, it is necessary to apply
an external oscillating forces (driving force).
Forced vibration
This is oscillation produced when a system is acted upon by an external periodic force.
Swinging a person sitting on a swing is an example of a forced vibration. Each time you push the
swing its amplitude increases.
Resonance
Resonance occurs whenever a particular body or system is forced to oscillate at its own natural
frequency as a result of impulses received from some other systems which is vibrating with the
same [Link] resonance an object e.g. a house can be damaged. Cases have been known
in the past where suspension bridges have been damaged by the resonant vibrations caused by
marching military columns.
At resonance, there is a
a. maximum transfer of energy from the driving system into the oscillating system.
b. Maximum amplitude
Amplitude of vibration depends on:
The relative values of the natural frequency of free oscillations and the frequency of the
driving force.
The extent to which the system is damped.
Theoretically, with no damping, the amplitude of oscillation of the driven system should tend to
be infinitely great when the driving frequency is equal to the natural frequency of the oscillating
system.
In practice, damping prevents oscillations from getting infinitely large.
Measuring the speed of sound in air
Here is a simple way to measure the speed at which sound travels through air.
Materals
Two blocks of wood, or other items that make a loud, sharp sound when struck together
A stopwatch
A friend to help with the experiment
A tape measure
procedures
1. Find a large empty area, such as a field or large court.
2. Choose two spots on opposite ends of the area where each person will stand.
3. Measure the distance between the two spots using a tape measure. Alternatively, you
can count off measured steps between the two spots.
4. Have your friend take the blocks and stand at one spot, holding them up high.
5. Take the stopwatch and stand at the other spot. Make sure you have a clear view of the
blocks.
6. Signal your friend to bang the two blocks together hard.
7. Start the stopwatch as soon as you see the blocks hit each other.
8. Press stop as soon as you hear the sound from the blocks.
9. Repeat steps 6 to 8 more than three times to and find average time.
10. Calculate the speed of the sound by dividing the distance between you and your friend
by the average time.
Measuring the speed of sound in air using echoes
Procedure
1. Measure the distance d from the wall to your friend
2. Ask your friend to make a sharp clapping sound
3. start the stop watch as soon as your friend claps and stop the stopwatch once you hear an
echo
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 to find the average time t.
2d
5. calculate the speed of sound using formula: speed =
t
5. Using speed = 2 d / t, we can calculate the speed.
Speed of sound in different substances
Substance Speed of sound
Air 343 m/s
Water 1493 m/s
Steel 5130 m/s
The table above shows that sound travels very fast in solids followed by liquids.
Factors that affect speed of sound
Temperature
Sound travels more slowly at lower temperatures than higher temperatures. This is because at
in lower temperatures particles of a medium move slower than at higher temperature (kinetic
theory of matter)
Stiffness
Sound travels more quickly in a medium which is more stiff. This is because they are
compressed and spread out faster. Solids are more stiff than liquids and gases, that is why
sound travels very fast in solids than other states of matter.
Density
Comparing the densities of the materials with the same stiffness, sound travels slower in the
denser material. This is because in denser materials is hard for the particles to move as sound
waves pass by. Fog is very dense, therefore sound travels slowly.
Wind and humidity: this affects the speed of sound in air. How?
Factors that affect pitch of different musical instruments
1. Guitar
i. Length of string
ii. Thickness of string
2. Drum
i. Thick ness of skin
ii. Size of the skin
3. Xylophone
i. Thickness of wood
ii. Length of wood
How to control pitch in drum
i. Warming up the skin
ii. Adding the wax
Discuss the following
i. How does xylophone produce sound?
ii. Why are the bars made of different lengths?
iii. What is the purpose of putting gourd at the base of each bar
iv. Which bar would produce sound with lowest pitch?
Calculating speed of sound
Ultrasonic and infrasonic sound (arise with physics)