SOUND

1. What is Sound?
1.1. Sound is a form of energy which produces a sensation of hearing in our ears.
1.2. Sound is produced due to vibration of different objects.
2. Sound as a Longitudinal Wave
2.1. Sound travels as a longitudinal wave through a material medium.
2.2. The medium can be solid, liquid or gas.
2.3. Sound propagates in a medium as a series of compressions (C) and
rarefactions (R).
2.4. In these waves the particles move back and forth parallel to the direction of propagation of the disturbance.
Such waves are called longitudinal waves.

2.5. When a vibrating object moves forward, it pushes and compresses the air in front of it creating a region of high
pressure. This region is called a compression.
2.6. When the vibrating object moves backwards, it creates a region of low pressure called rarefaction (R).
2.7. As the object moves back and forth rapidly, a series of compressions and rarefactions is created in the air. These
make the sound wave that propagates through the medium.

2.8. The propagation of sound can be visualized as propagation of density variations or pressure variations in the
medium.

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3. Sound: A Mechanical Wave
3.1. Sound cannot travel in vacuum.
3.2. Sound is a mechanical wave and needs a material medium like air, water, steel etc. for its propagation. It cannot
travel through vacuum.
3.3. Sound waves are characterized by the motion of particles in the medium and are called mechanical waves.
3.4. Bell jar experiment can prove this nature of sound wave.

4. Characteristic of a Sound Wave

4.1. The change in density from one maximum value to the minimum value and again to the maximum value makes
one complete oscillation.
4.2. The distance between two consecutive compressions or two consecutive rarefactions is called the wavelength,
represented by λ, (Greek letter lambda)
4.3. The SI unit is meter(m)
4.4. The magnitude of disturbance in a medium on either
side of the mean value is called an amplitude (A).
4.5. As shown in the figure, amplitude is the distance
between mean position and crest (maximum
displacement).
4.6. The time taken by the wave for one complete
oscillation of the density or pressure of the medium is called the time period, T. SI unit is second (s).
4.7. The number of complete oscillations per unit time is called the frequency (ν), Greek letter, nu. SI unit is hertz
(Hz), or 1/s
4.8. Frequency and time period are related as follows, frequency=1/time period or ν=1/T

5. Speed of Sound
5.1. The speed of sound is defined as the distance
which a point on a wave travels per unit time.
5.2. λ is the wavelength, which is the distance
travelled in one time period.
5.3. Hence Speed = distance/time or v= λ/T
5.4. The speed v, frequency ν, and wavelength λ, of
sound are related by the equation,
5.5. v = λ /T or v=λν.
5.6. Speed = wavelength x time period

6. Speed of Sound in different Media

6.1. The speed of sound depends primarily on the nature and the temperature of the transmitting medium.
6.2. The speed of sound decreases when we go from solid to gaseous state.
6.3. In any medium as we increase the temperature the speed of sound increases.
6.4. For example, the speed of sound in air is 331 ms–1 at 0 ºC and 344 ms–1 at 22 ºC.

7. Reflection of Sound
7.1. Like light, sound gets reflected at the surface of a solid or liquid and follows the laws of reflection.
i) The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
ii) The incident ray, the reflected ray and normal at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.

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 7.2. Echo
i) For hearing a distinct sound, the time interval between the original sound and the reflected one must be at
least 0.1 s.
ii) The minimum distance of the obstacle from the source of sound must be 17.2 m.
7.3. Reverberation
i) Reverberation is the persistence of a sound after a sound is produced.
ii) It is created when a sound signal is reflected multiple times until it reaches a sound wave that cannot be heard
by human ears.
iii) In an auditorium or big hall excessive reverberation is highly undesirable.
iv) To reduce reverberation, the roof and walls of the auditorium are generally covered with sound-absorbent
materials.
7.4. Uses of Multiple Reflection of Sound
i) Megaphones, horns, musical instruments such as trumpets and shehanais, are all designed to send sound
in a particular direction without spreading it in all directions.
ii) Stethoscope is a medical instrument used for listening to sounds produced in the heart or lungs of human
body. In stethoscopes the sound of the patient’s heartbeat reaches the doctor’s ears by multiple reflection
of sound.
iii) The curved ceilings of concert halls and conference halls make the sound after reflection reach all corners
of the hall.
iv) Sometimes a curved soundboard may be placed behind the stage so that the sound, after reflecting from
the sound board, spreads evenly across the width of the hall.

8. Properties of Sound
8.1. Sound properties such as pitch, loudness and quality are determined by the corresponding wave properties.
8.2. The loudness or softness of a sound is determined basically by its amplitude. The amplitude of the sound wave
depends upon the force with which an object is made to vibrate.
8.3. Loudness and Intensity
i) Loudness is a physiological response of the ear to the
intensity of sound.
ii) The amount of sound energy passing each second through
unit area is called the intensity of sound.

8.4. Pitch
i) If the frequency of vibration is higher, the sound is shrill and has a high pitch.
ii) If the sound is said to have a lower pitch, then it has a lower frequency of vibration.
iii) A bird produces high pitched sound whereas the roaring of a lion is a low-pitched sound.

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9. Range of Hearing
9.1. The audible range of hearing for average human beings is in the frequency range of 20Hz – 20 kHz.
9.2. Infrasound-sound with frequency lower than 20Hz.
9.3. Ultrasound-sound with frequency higher than 20KHz.

10. Infrasound Vs Ultrasound

INFRASOUND ULTRASOUND
The waves having frequency less than 20 Hz are The waves having frequency more than 20,000 Hz are
infrasonic waves. ultrasonic waves.
Elephants and whales produce infrasonic waves. Bats and rats can produce ultrasonic sounds.
A vibrating simple pendulum produces infrasonic sounds.
Earthquakes produces infrasonic waves
10.1. Application of Ultrasound
i) Industrial applications:
 To clean parts located in hard-to-reach places, for example, spiral tube, odd shaped parts, electronic
components etc.
 To detect cracks and flaws in metal blocks.
ii) Medical applications:
 Echocardiography- Ultrasonic waves are made to reflect from various parts of the heart and form the image of
the heart.
 Ultrasonography-Ultrasound scanner for getting images of internal organs of the human body.
 Ultrasound may be employed for the treatment of kidney stones.
10.2. SONAR
i) Sonar stands for Sound Navigation And Ranging. It is a device which uses ultrasonic waves to measure
distance, direction, and speed of underwater objects.
ii) This technique is used to determine the depth of the sea and to locate underwater hills, valleys,
submarines, icebergs, sunken ships etc.
iii) If the time taken for the transmission and reception of ultrasound is t and the distance travelled is 2d by
the ultrasound, then 2d = v x t
or d = (v x t) / 2
iv) BATS produce Ultrasound. The high-pitched ultrasonic squeaks of the bat are reflected from the obstacles
or prey and returned to bat’s ear.
RECAPITULATION
A. Sound is a longitudinal wave which travels in the form of sets of compressions and rarefactions.
B. Sound requires a medium to travel.
C. Frequency, time period, amplitude, speed, and wavelength are the important characteristics of sound waves.
D. Sound waves undergo reflection obeying the laws of reflection.
E. Multiple reflection of sound has many practical applications.
F. Human audible range is 20Hz to 20000Hz.
G. Infrasound-sound with frequency lower than 20Hz.
H. Ultrasound-sound with frequency higher than 20KHz.
I. Ultrasound has many industrial as well as medical applications.

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J. The human ear is an extremely sensitive organ which helps us to hear various kinds of sounds.

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