Study Guide: Sound

  1. What type of mechanical wave is a sound wave? Longitudinal Wave

  2. What are the parts of a sound wave? Compression and rarefaction

  3. Be able to explain the diffraction of sound waves. They bend around obstacles and through openings.

  4. What are the three factors that affect the speed of sound? Temperature, Stiffness and Density

    5. Be able to explain how the speed of sound changes as the three factors change within the medium. As temp increases, so does the speed of that sound (the molecules are all ready “excited”). Stiffness, if its stiffer, the speed increases (particles rebound quickly), if density increases the speed decreases (particles are compressed).

    6. Be able to answer the following questions from a chart similar to the one on page 38.

    a. Which material is the stiffest? Diamond because the speed is traveling the fastest in Diamond

    b. Which solid is the densest? Lead because sound is traveling slower

    c. Would you expect the speed of sound in air at 0°C to be higher or lower than at 20°C? Slower

    7. What is density? The amount of mass in a given volume.

    8. What are the properties of sound? Pitch and Loudness

    9. Which property does amplitude correspond to? Loudness

    10. Which property does frequency correspond to? Pitch

    11. What determines the intensity of a sound? How close you are to the sound (area).

    12. What unit of measure is used to compare the loudness of different sounds? Decibel (dB)

    13. How do you measure the amplitude of a sound wave? Measure the thickness of the compressions.

    14. What is the doppler effect and which property of sound does it affect? The observed change in frequency of a moving object relative to a stationary observer, pitch

    15. What are the three sections of the ear? The outer, middle, inner

    16. Know which parts of the ear are found in each section.

  5. Outer - Auricle (flappy part), ear canal and ear drum

  6. Middle - Anvil , Hammer, Stirrup (stapes

  7. Inner - Cochlea, Auditory nerve, semicircular canals

    17. What happens to sound waves when they reach a surface that they can’t pass through? Bounce Off (ECHO)

    18. How do animals use sound? Echolocation, like bats and dolphins

    19. What is a sonogram and how is it produced? A picture produced by ultrasound

    20. What is sonar and how is it different from echolocation?Sound Navigation and ranging, using sound waves to determine distances under water, human technology.