Sound

 Sound is a form of energy which produces

the sensation of hearing.
 It is produced by the vibration of a material
body
 Vibration-rapid to and fro motion of an
object
How sound travels?
Sound travels in the form of waves.
 A Wave is a vibratory disturbance in a
medium which carries energy from one
point to another without there being a
direct contact between the two points.
 There are 2 types of waves: Longitudinal
and Transverse.
 Sound waves are Longitudinal waves.
 Longitudinal waves can be produced in all
the three media: solids,liquids and gases.
 Eg. For Longitudinal waves:waves in a spring
when it is pushed and pulled at one end.
Sound waves.
Propagation of sound: How sound
travel?
 Sound propagates through a medium.
 Medium - An object through which sound
travels..
 This medium can be solids,liquids, gases.
 Consider a speaker vibrating producing
sound.
 This sound wave reaches the ear through
air.
 The disturbance pushes the first particle.
 The first particle transmits this disturbance
by pushing the second particle and come
back to its previous position.The second
particle pushes the third paticle and comes
back…… so on..
 Disturbance is carried through the particles
of the medium to the ear.
 Particles of the medium do not forward
themselves.They just vibrate about their
mean position.
 This disturbance is known as sound.

Compressions and Rarefactions of a

sound wave
 Compression: Regions of High pressure. (High
density of particles.)when the object vibrates
in the forward direction.
 Particles will be close together.
 It is that part of a Longitudinal wave in
which the particles of the medium are closer
to one another than they normally are,and
there is a momentary reduction in volume
of the medium.
 Rarefactions: Regions of Low pressure. (Low
density of particles.)when the object vibrates
in the backward direction.
 Particles will be farther apart.
 It is that part of a Longitudinal wave in
which the particles of the medium are
farther apart than normal,and there is a
momentary increase in the volume of the
medium.
Can sound travel without a medium?
 Sound cannot travel through vacuum. It
needs a material medium for its
propagation.

Longitudinal nature of sound

 Longitudinal-The particles of the medium
vibrate parallel to the direction of
propagation of the wave or disturbance.
 Eg: Vibration of a spring when pushed
andpulled
Types of waves
 Longitudinal : particles vibrate parallel to the
direction of propagation of the wave. Eg:
sound wave.
 Transverse: particles vibrate perpendicular to
the direction of propagation of the wave.
 Eg: Light wave.
Eg: vibration of a stretched string
Characterestics of sound wave
 There are some properties which describe a
sound wave.
 They are:
Wavelength,Frequency,Time period,pitch,
Amplitude,speed,quality

Density
and
pressure variation of sound wave
 The peak of the wave represents high
density and high pressure .
 The valley of the wave represents low
density and low pressure.
Wavelength of a wave
Crest:peak:Upper portion of the wave:
compression
Trough:valley:Lower portion of the
wave:Rarefaction
Wavelength is the distance between two
consecutive crests or consecutive
troughs.wavelength is the length of a
wave.Denoted by λ.s.i unit:Metre.
Frequency of a wave
 Number of such oscillations per unit time.
 Denoted by ν.
 S.I unit is Hertz. (Hz).
 Eg:
 Ringing a bell.
 How many times ringing in unit time. w
 1 wavelength= 1 oscillation .
Time period of a wave
 Time taken to complete one oscillation.
 Denoted by T.
S.I unit: second
Relation between Frequency and Time
period
 ν = 1/T.
.
Pitch of a sound wave
 Perception of frequency of sound wave by
the brain.
 Greater the frequency,greater the pitch.
 Lesser the frequency,lesser the pitch.
Low pitch vs. High pitch

 That means, when the frequency increases,

Time period decreases.
Quality of sound
 Distinguishes sounds of same pitch and
loudness.
 Sound pleasant to hear: Rich quality.
 Sound unpleasant to hear: poor quality
 The Quality of a musical sound depends on
the mixture of frequencies present in it.
 Speed of sound
 Distance travelled by a point on the wave
per unit time.
 Disturbance is transmitted by the particles
of the medium.
 Denoted by v.
 Unit:m/s.
 V= Distance travelled/Time taken.
 Distance Travelled=λ.
 Time= T
 Therefore,
 V=λ / T
 Or
 V =νλ
Speed of sound remains almost the same for
all frequencies in a given medium under the
same physical conditions
 Relation between frequency and speed
of sound wave
 V=νλ
 Different media -different properties- so
speed also diff.
 Air -344 m/s
 Water-1500 m/s.
 speed of sound depends on:
 The Nature of the material
 Temperature.
 Humidity of air
Reflection of sound wave
 Bouncing off a sound wave on striking an
obstacle.
 Obeys the laws of reflection.
Echo
 Repitition of the same sound caused by the
reflection of sound waves from a surface
back to the listener.

 To hear a distinct echo,the time interval

between the original and the reflected sound
must be at least 0.1 s.
 Minimum distance of the obstacle from the
source of sound should be 17.2m
 Distance travelled by sound in 0.1 sec=
speed xTime
 =344x0.1=34.4m
 Distance between the source and the
obstacle=34.4/2=17.2 m
 If there are so many absorbing objects,
then also echo will be less.
Reverberation
.
 Sound produced in a closed area due to
repeated reflection of sound is known as
Reverberation.
 Time interval between the original and the
reflected sound is less than 0.1 s.
 Echo is possible even in an open area.
 Reverberation happening in a closed area.
 Eg: in a closed room with no furnishing,
original sound repeats not like echo. It gets
mixed upcontinuosly.
 Whatever you speaks get repeated multiple
times and gradually it gets faded away.
 In the case of echo,the whole sound is
repeated clearly.
 The Reverberation is a combination of
multiple echoes.The reflected sound
overlaps.
 Methods for reducing excessive
Reverberation
 Panels made of sound-absorbing materials
are put on the walls and ceiling of big halls
 Carpets are put on the floor.
 Heavy curtains are put on doors and
windows to absorb sound.
 The Material having sound-absorbing
properties is used for making the seats ina
big hall
Range of Hearing
 The range of frequency from 20 Hz to 20Khz.
 Below 20Hz-Infrasonics.
 Above 20khz-Ultrasonics.
 Infrasonics: objects vibrate very slowly.
 Simple pendulum,Earthquakes, Animals like
Whale,Elephants,Rhinoceroses
 Ultrasonics:can be heard by
Dogs,monkeys,deers,cats,dolphins,leopards.
Bats can hear as well as produce ultrasonics
Ultrasound
 Very common in Medical field.
 Ability to travel along well defined path
even with obstacles.It has a high penetrating
power than ordinary sounds
 Applications: Medical field,Industries.
 Industry:cleaning machine parts.
 Detect cracks and flaws in metal blocks.
 Medicine:
 To investigate the internal organs of body
such as liver,pancreas,kidneys etc.
 To break kidney stones into fine grains.
 To monitor the development of foetus inside
the mother’s uterus.
 Used in SONAR to determine the depth of
the sea andto locate under-sea objects.
Sonar

 Sound Navigation and Ranging.

 An Apparatus used to find the depth of the
sea or to locate things under water.
 A sonar consists of two parts: Transmitter
and Receiver. It is attached to he under-side
of a ship.
 The Transmitter emit ultrasonic sound waves
of frequency 50,000 Hz.
 This wave transmits to the bottom and is
reflected back in the form of an echo.
 This echo produces an electric signal in the
receiver part of the sonar device.ni
 The sonar device measures the time taken by
the ultrasonic pulse to travel from the ship
to the bottom and back to the ship.
 Knowing the time taken by the ultrasonic
sound to travel from the ship to the bottom
of the sea and the speed of sound in
water,the depth of the sea can be found out.

Human Ear
 An important organ that helps us to hear
different sounds around us.
 Auditory parts of Ear:
 Ear has mainly three parts:
 Outer Ear, Middle Ear, Inner Ear.
 Auditory parts: The parts that help to hear.
 Outer Ear: Pinna, Auditory canal, Eardrum
 Middle Ear: 3
Bones:Hammer(Malleus),Anvil(Incus),stirrup(stap
es).
Inner Ear: cochlear,Auditory Nerves
Functions of Auditory parts
 Pinna: collects sound from surroundigs.
 Auditory canal: sound passes through this
towards eardrum.
 Eardrum:compression reaches eardrum -move
it inward.
 Rarefaction reaches eardrum-moves it
outward.
 Thus ,Eardrum vibrates when sound reaches
it.
 Middle Ear: vibrations of the ear drum
amplified.done by the 3 bones..
 Inner Ear: cochlea: The pressure vibrations
are converted into Electrical signals.
 Auditory Nerve: Electric signals are carried
from ear to the brain