SOUND

Introduction

→ The sensation felt by our ears is called sound.

→ Sound is a form of energy which makes us hear.

→ Law of conservation of energy is also applicable to sound.

→ Sound travels in form of wave.

Production of Sound

→ Sound is produced when object vibrates or sound is produced by vibrating objects.

→ The energy required to make an object vibrate and produce sound is provided by some
outside source (like our hand, wind etc.).

→ Example: Sound of our voice is produced by vibration of two vocal cords in our
throat.

• Sound of a drum or tabla is produced by vibration of its membrane

when struck.

→ In laboratory experiments, sound is produced by vibrating tuning

fork. The vibrations of tuning fork can be shown by touching a small,
suspended pith ball (cork ball) with a prong of the sounding tuning
fork. The pith ball is pushed away with a great force.

• Sound can be produced by following methods:

(i) By vibrating string (sitar)

(ii) By vibrating air (flute)
(iii) By vibrating membrane (table, drum)
(iv) By vibrating plates (bicycle bell)
(v) By friction in objects
(vi) By scratching or scrubbing the objects etc.

Propagation of Sound

→ The substance through which sound travels is called a medium.

→ The medium may be solid, liquid or gas.

→ When an object vibrates, then the air particles around it also start vibrating in the
same way and displaced from their stable position.

→ These vibrating air particles exert a force on nearby air particles, so they are also
displaced from their rest position and start to vibrate.

→ This process is continued in the medium till sound reaches our ears.
→ The disturbance produced by sound travels through the medium (not the particles of
the medium).

→ Wave is a disturbance which travels through a medium and carries energy.

→ So sound travels in wave form known as mechanical waves.

• When a body vibrates then it compresses the air surrounding it and form a area of
high density called compression (C).

→ Compression is the part of wave in which particles of the medium are closer to one
another forming high pressure.

→ This compression moves away from the vibrating body.

• When vibrating body vibrates back an area of low pressure is formed

called rarefaction (R).

→ Rarefaction is the area of wave in which particles of the medium are further apart
from one another forming a low pressure or low-density area.

→ When body vibrates back and forth, a series of compression

and rarefaction is formed in air resulting in sound wave.

→ Propagation of sound wave is propagation of density change.

Sound needs Medium for Propagation

• Sound waves are mechanical waves.

→ It needs material medium for propagation like air, water, steel etc.

→ It cannot travel in vacuum.

Experiment to show that sound cannot travel through vacuum
→ An electric bell is suspended in airtight bell jar connected with
vacuum pump.

→ When bell jar is full of air, we hear the sound but when air is
pumped out from the bell jar by vacuum pump and we ring the
bell, no sound is heard.

→ So, medium is necessary for propagation of sound.

Sound Waves as Longitudinal Waves

• A wave in which the particles of the medium vibrate back and forth in the same
direction in which the wave is moving, is called a longitudinal wave.

→ When we push and pull the slinky compression (number of turns are more or closer)
and rarefaction (number of turns are less or farther) are formed.

→ When a wave travels along with slinky, its each turn moves back and forth by only a
small distance in the direction of wave. So the wave is longitudinal.

→ The direction of vibrations of the particles is parallel to the direction of wave.

• When one end of a slinky is moved up and down rapidly whose other end is fixed, it
produces transverse wave.

→ This wave possesses along the slinky in horizontal direction, while turns of slinky
(particles) vibrate up and down at right angle to the direction of wave.

→ Thus, in transverse wave particles of the medium vibrate up and down at right angles
to the direction of wave.

→ Light waves are transverse waves, but they don’t need a material
medium for propagation.

Characteristics of Sound Wave

• The characteristics of sound waves are: wavelength, frequency, amplitude, time period
and velocity.

→ When a wave travel in air the density and pressure of air changes from their mean
position.

→ Compression is shown by crest while rarefaction is shown by trough.

→ Compression is the region of maximum density or pressure.

→ Rarefaction is the region of minimum density or pressure.

Wavelength

→ In sound waves the combined length of a compression and an adjacent rarefaction is

called its wavelength.

→ The distance between two consecutive compressions or two consecutive rarefactions is

also called its wavelength.

→ It is denoted by the Greek letter lambda (λ). Its SI unit is metre.

Frequency

→ No. of complete waves produced in one second or number of vibrations per second is
called frequency.

→ Number of compressions or rarefactions passed in one second is also frequency.

→ Frequency of wave is same as the frequency of the vibrating body which produces the
wave.

• The SI unit of frequency is hertz (Hz). The symbol of frequency is (nu).

• 1 Hertz: One Hz is equal to 1 vibration per second.
• Bigger unit of frequency is kilohertz kHz = 1000 Hz.

Time Period

→ Time taken to complete one vibration is called time period.

→ Time required to pass two consecutive compressions or rarefactions through a point is
called time period.

• SI unit of time period is second (s). Time period is denoted by T.

• The frequency of a wave is the reciprocal of the time period.
• = 1/T

Amplitude

→ The maximum displacement of the particle of the medium from their original
undisturbed position is called amplitude of the wave.

• Amplitude is denoted by A and its SI unit is metre (m).

→ Sound has characteristics like pitch and loudness and timbre.

• Pitch:
→The pitch of sound depends on the frequency of sound (vibration).
→ It is directly proportional to its frequency. Greater the frequency, higher is the pitch
and lesser the frequency, lower is the pitch.

→ A woman’s voice is shrill having a high pitch while a man’s voice is flat having low
pitch.

→ High pitch sound has large number of compressions and rarefactions passing a fixed
point per unit time.

• Loudness: The loudness depends on the amplitude of the sound wave.

→ Loudness is the measure of the sound energy reaching the ear per sec.

→ Greater the amplitude of sound wave, greater is the energy, louder the sound; short is
the amplitude, less is the energy, soft is the sound.

→ Loudness is measured in decibel ‘dB’.

→ Loudness is proportional to square of the amplitude.

• Quality or Timbre: The timbre of a sound depends on the shape of sound wave
produced by it. It is the characteristic of musical sound.

→ It helps us to distinguish between two sounds of same pitch & loudness.

• Sound of single (same) frequency is called tone while a mixture of different

frequencies is called note.

→ Noise is unpleasant to hear while music is pleasant to hear and it is of good quality.

Intensity of sound:-
 Sound intensity, also known as acoustic intensity, is defined as the power carried by
sound waves per unit area in a direction perpendicular to that area.
 The SI unit is watt per square meter(W/m2)
Velocity

• The distance travelled by a wave in one second is called velocity of the wave.

• Its SI unit is metre per second (ms-1).

Velocity = Distance travelled/Time taken
⇒ v = λ/T
(λ is the wavelength)
v = λ (1/T = )
So, Velocity = Wavelength × Frequency
This is the wave equation.

Example: What is the frequency of sound wave whose time period is 0.05 second ?

Solution

Frequency, v = 1/T
Given T = 0.05 s
v = 1/0.005 = 100/5 = 20Hz
∴ Frequency = 20 Hz.
Speed of Sound in Various Medium

→ Speed of sound depends on the nature of material through which it travels. It is

slowest in gases, faster in liquids and fastest in solids.

→ Speed of sound increases with the rise in temperature.

→ Speed of sound increases as humidity of air increases.

→ Speed of light is faster than speed of sound.

→ In air, speed of sound is 344 ms-1 at 22ºC.

Sonic Boom

→ Some aircrafts, bullets, rockets etc. have ‘supersonic speed’.

• Supersonic refers to the speed of an object which is greater than the speed of sound
and it produces extremely loud sound waves called ‘shock waves’ in air.

→ Sonic boom is an explosive noise caused by shock waves.

→ It emits tremendous sound energy which can shatter the glass panes of windows.

Reflection of Sound

→ Like light, sound also bounce back when it falls on a hard surface. It is called
reflection of sound.

• The laws of reflection of light are obeyed during reflection of sound.

(i) The incident sound wave, the reflected sound wave and normal at the point of
incidence lie in the same plane.

(ii) Angle of reflection of sound is always equal to the angle of incidence of sound.

Echo

• The repetition of sound caused by the reflection of sound waves is called an echo.

→ We can hear echo when there is a time gap of 0.1 second in original sound and echo
(reflected sound).
→ Echo is produced when sound reflected from a hard surface (i.e. brick wall, mountain
etc.) as soft surface tends to absorb sound.

Minimum distance to hear an echo

Speed = Distance/Time
Here, Speed of sound in air = 344 ms-1 at 22ºC
Time = 0.1 second
344 = Distance/0.1 sec
⇒ Distance = 344 × 0.1 = 34.4 m
So, distance between reflecting surface and audience = 34.4/2 = 17.2 (at 22ºC).

→ Rolling of thunder is due to multiple reflection of sound of thunder from a number of

reflecting surfaces such as clouds and the earth.

Reverberation

• The persistence of sound in a big hall due to repeated reflection of sound from the
walls, ceiling and floor of the hall is called reverberation.

→ If reverberation is too long, sound becomes blurred, distorted and confusing due to
overlapping of different sound.

Echo Reverberation

It is the reflection of a sound wave off a It is created by the reflection of sound waves
surface. created by the superposition of echoes.

It is clear and distinguishable. It is less clear comparatively.

When the distance between the source and When the distance between the source and the
the reflecting body exceeds 17.2m, an echo reflecting body is relatively small, reverberation
is heard. can be heard.

Echo is formed in both open and closed Reverberation occurs in closed spaces with
spaces. multiple reflecting objects.

The echo can be used to calculate distance The distance of a reflecting object cannot be
of the object. determined by the reverberation, since the travel
time is too small.

Methods to reduce reverberation in big halls or auditoriums

→ Panels made of felt or compressed fibre board are put on walls and ceiling to absorb
sound.

→ Heavy curtains are put on doors and windows.

→ Carpets are put on the floor.

→ Seats are made of material having sound absorbing properties.

Applications of Reflection of Sound

(i) Megaphone, loudspeakers, bulb horns and trumpets, shehnai etc. are designed to
send sound in a particular direction without spreading all around.

→ All these instruments have funnel tube which reflects sound waves repeatedly
towards audience. In this amplitude of sound waves adds up to increase loudness of
sound.

(ii) Stethoscope: It is a medical instrument used for listening the sounds produced in
human body mainly in heart and lungs. The sound of the heartbeats reaches the doctor’s
ears by the multiple reflection of the sound waves in the rubber tube of stethoscope.

(iii) Sound Board: In big halls or auditoriums sound is absorbed by walls, ceiling,
seats etc. So a curved board (sound board) is placed behind the speakers so that his
speech can be heard easily by audiences. The soundboard works on the multiple
reflection of sound.

(iv) The ceiling of concert halls are made curved, so that sound after reflection from
ceiling, reaches all the parts of the hall.
Range of Hearing

(i) Range of hearing in human is 20 Hz to 20000 Hz.

→ Children younger than 5 years and dogs can hear upto 25 KHz.

(ii) The sounds of frequencies lower than 20 Hz are known as ‘infrasonic sounds’.

→ A vibrating simple pendulum produces infrasonic sounds.

→ Rhinoceroses communicate each other using frequencies as low as 5 Hz.
→ Elephants and whales produce infrasonic waves.
→ Earthquakes produces infrasonic waves (before shock waves)
which some animals can hear and get disturbed.

(iii) The sounds of frequencies higher than 20 kHz are known as ‘ultrasonic waves.

→ Dogs, porpoises, dolphins, bats and rats can hear ultrasonic sounds.
→ Bats and rats can produce ultrasonic sounds.

Hearing Aid

→ It is battery operated electronic device used by persons who are hard of hearing.

→ Microphone convert sound into electrical signals, then those are amplified by
amplifier. Amplified signals are sent to the speaker of hearing aid. The speaker converts
the amplified signal to sound and sends to ear for clear hearing.

Applications of Ultrasound

(i) It is used to detect cracks in metal blocks in industries without damaging them.

(ii) It is used in industries to clean ‘hard to reach’ parts of objects such as spiral tubes,
odd shaped machines etc.

(iii) It is used to investigate the internal organs of human body such as liver, gall
bladder, kidneys, uterus and heart.

(iv) Echocardiography: These waves are used to reflect the action of heart and its
images are formed. This technique is called echocardiography.

(v) Ultrasonography: The technique of obtaining pictures of internal organs of the

body by using echoes of ultrasound waves is called ultrasonography.

(vi) Ultrasound is used to split tiny stones in kidneys into fine grains.