Waves Vocabulary
How high or low a sound is.
Pitch
True/False: Sound is a type of matter.
FALSE!
One complete cycle of a wave, containing one compression and one rarefaction.
Wavelength
When the frequency of a wave decreases, the pitch we hear _________________.
Decreases (gets lower)
Kinetic Energy is the energy of ___________.
Motion
What determines the volume of a sound.
amplitude
A medium can be any of these THREE states of matter.
gas, liquid, and solid
This type of waves requires a medium.
Mechanical wave
When the amplitude of a wave increases, the volume of the sound we hear...
Increases (gets louder)
When more force and energy is applied to an objects, the sound it produces will be...
louder
The number of wave cycles that pass a given point in a certain amount of time.
frequency
Sound travels fastest through this state of matter.
Solid
A wave where the energy travels in the same direction as the particles of the medium.
Longitudinal wave
The pinna collects sounds from the environment and passes them down the ear canal, directing them to the...
ear drum
A wave has more energy when its frequency is...
Higher
The unit of measure for frequency and pitch.
hertz (Hz)
A sound wave can not travel through outer space because of the lack of...
Matter / a medium
This type of wave makes a pattern of rhythmic disturbances in a medium.
Sound wave
What is one thing that can cause hearing loss?
Various answers: Listening to loud sounds too often, hearing an extremely loud sound even for a short amount of time, some viruses/diseases, aging stereocilia in the inner ear, physical trauma to the eardrum or other parts of the ear...
An area of high pressure and energy in a longitudinal wave is called...
a compression
A phenomenon where a sound becomes more high pitched as it moves towards you and low pitched as it moves away.
Doppler Effect
Particles are less dense
This phenomenon can happen when an object travels so fast it breaks the speed of sound.
Sonic boom
What do the stereocilia (tiny hair inside the cochlea) do to let us hear sound?
They transform sound energy into electrical energy. (Alternate answer: They are sensitive to specific frequencies of sounds, which tells your brain what that sound is.)
An area of low pressure and energy in a longitudinal wave is called...
a rarefaction