Sound waves

what are sound waves and how do they travel

they are vibrations that pass through the molecules of a medium, as they are longitudinal waves they travel through a series of compressions and rarefactions

what are reflections of sound waves called

echoes

why can't sound waves travel in space?

because space is a vacuum so there are no particles to vibrate for the sound to be transferred/pass through

How do sound waves travel through a solid?

when sound waves travel through a solid they cause the particles in the solid to vibrate, these particles then gain kinetic energy and collide into neighbouring particles, transferring kinetic energy through the solid over and over again as the sound wave gets transmitted through the material

Why do sound waves travel faster through solids / denser materials?

The particles in a solid are closer together/ densely packed than in a gas or a liquid.

This means vibrations are more easily passed from particle to particle and so sound travels faster.

how are sound waves transmitted

1. sound waves enter the ear and travel down the ear canal and hit the ear drum

2. this cause the eardrum to vibrate, causing the vibrations to be transmitted down the ossicles( tiny bones in the ear)

3. then goes along the semi circular canal and into the cochlea

4. the cochlea then converts the vibrations into electrical signals and these electrical signals get sent along the auditory nerve to your brain

What is the range of human hearing?

20-20,000 Hz

what happens to our hearing as we age?

the older we get the range of our hearing decreases due to wear and tear of the cochlea