Introduction to Sound
What are vibrations?
What are solid, liquid, and gas?
The number of times an object vibrates per second, which determines if it will be heard as a high or low pitch.
What is frequency?
The loudness of a sound.
What is volume?
The substance (solid, liquid, or gas) through which a wave travels.
What is a medium?
A series of compressions and rarefactions.
What is a sound wave?
This is the type of substance through which sound can NOT travel.
What is a vacuum, or empty space?
The way that our ears perceive frequency, as a high or low sound.
What is pitch?
The unit that scientists use to measure volume.
What is the decibel (dB)?
This a word for a place with no particles, such as outer space, where sound cannot travel.
What is a vacuum?
The regions of air that have many particles squeezed together in a sound wave.
What are compresssions?
This is a place with walls that are built to absorb sound waves.
What is a soundproof room?
A group of eight notes, or pitches, that repeat in music.
What is an octave?
The volume of sound that is the threshold of damaging hearing.
What is 85 dB?
The God-created ability of some animals to send out sound waves in order to find prey and move around safely with poor eyesight.
What is echolocation?
The regions of air that have few particles, which are spread apart, in a sound wave.
What are rarefactions?
This is the opposite of sound absorption.
What is an echo, or reflected sound waves?
The unit of measurement that is used to measure frequency.
What is hertz (Hz)?
The volume of sound that is the threshold of human hearing (with healthy ears).
What is 0 dB?
This is the transfer of energy when a wave disappears into a surface that is not flat, smooth, or hard.
What is absorption?
Since the energy of sound travels in the same direction as the sound wave (not up and down), we say that sound waves are this type of wave.
What is a longitudinal wave?
This is the speed of sound in air.
What is 343 m/s?
What is the Doppler effect?
This is a measurement that compares the density of the compressions and rarefactions to normal air. It is shown on a diagram as the height of a sound wave, and the loudness of a sound depends on it.
What is amplitude?
The technique that scientists have developed to use sound waves to find objects deep under water.
What is sonar, or sound navigation and ranging?