Vocabulary
What is a medium?
material that a force travels through, a solid, liquid, or gas
What does it mean to amplify a sound?
to make a sound louder
True or False: an organism's size corresponds to how loud a noise it can produce.
False. Snapping shrimp and cicadas produce incredibly loud sounds, as can many whales.
What is the Mach scale based on?
The speed of sound
How much faster is Mach 3.5 compared to the speed of sound?
3.5 times
What does it mean to refract?
to bend a wave, usually occurs when traveling from one medium to another.
Adjusting an instrument's pitch to a specific value is known as what?
Tuning
What is the name of the process that allows organisms to use sound to identify nearby food, mates, or obstacles?
Echolocation
What is the term referring to the combined properties and behaviors of sounds in a given environment?
Acoustic soundscape
Given that the speed of sound is 340 m/s, how far away is a lightning strike if you count 7 seconds before hearing thunder?
2380 m
The rate of wavelengths per unit time is known as what?
Frequency
A rapid, back-and-forth movement is known as what?
vibration
When two sounds interact, they can cancel out or combine in a process known as what?
Interference
What is the term given to objects traveling between Mach 5 and 10?
Hypersonic
How fast is an airplane traveling in m/s at Mach 5?
1,700 m/s
What are the definitions of reflect and absorb?
Reflect: to strike and bounce off a surface
Absorb: to strike and enter into a substance
String instruments work by amplifying vibrations in the strings, which are held taught by a pulling force known as what?
tension
Human-made sounds can cause harmful interference that affects nearby organisms. This is known as what?
Noise pollution
Does sound travel faster at higher or lower elevations?
Lower
How fast is a sound moving through an unknown medium if it takes 3 seconds to hear a sound originating from 6390 m away?
2,130 m/s
What is the sound barrier?
Buildup of pressure from sound waves traveling in the same direction as an object approaches the speed of sound.
A piano is what kind of instrument?
Hybrid
Create a model of an auditory field. Indicate which axis corresponds to frequency and which corresponds to intensity (decibel level).
See example.
Which media allows sound to travel fastest? Air, Liquid, or Solid?
Solid
Given that the speed of sound is 340 m/s, how long will it be until you can hear a gong being struck from 795 m away?
2.34 s