Sound
Making sound:
All sound are created by something vibrating. Vibrating sources cause the air around them
to vibrate. These vibrations are passed through the air to our ears where they cause the
eardrum to vibrate and we hear sound.
Compression – A region of a sound wave where the particles are pushed together
Rarefaction – A region of a sound wave where the particles are further apart
Sound can travel through solids and liquids
The speed of sound:
Sound travels at between 330 m/s and 350 m/s in the air. The speed changes depending on
the temperature and humidity of the air. Sounds travels at different speeds in different
materials.
Seeing and hearing sounds:
Seeing sounds – A cathode ray oscilloscope and microphone can be used to represent
sounds on a display screen. The microphone pucks up the sound and converts it to an
electrical signal. The oscilloscope converts this to a line which represents the vibrations that
make up the sound wave.
The oscilloscope can be used to observe two important things about the wave:
The amplitude is the furthest distance the particles move from their undisturbed
position. This is shown by the height or depth of the oscilloscope trace
The frequency is the number of vibrations each second. The more wave on the
screen, the higher the frequency. Frequency is measured in hertz. One hertz means
one wave per second
Ultrasound – Sounds which have a higher frequency than 20000Hz are too high pitched to
be heard by the human ear
Applications of ultrasound:
Sonar – Sonar is a method used to measure the depth of water or to locate an underwater
object
A pulse of ultrasound is sent down from a boat and reflects from the seabed. The time taken
for the reflected pulse to be receives is measured. This is used, with the speed of sound in
water to calculate the depth of the water
Material testing – Ultrasound can be used to test for flaws inside materials. If an
oscilloscope has an extra peak, this indicated to the engineers that some ultra sound is
being reflected from a crack or flaw inside.
