CHAPTER: 12 SOUND

A sound is a form of energy which produces a sensation of hearing in our ears.

Propagation of Sound: Sound is produced by vibrating objects.

Medium: The matter or substance through which sound is transmitted is called a

medium. It can be solid, liquid or gas. Air is the most common medium for sound
propagation.

Wave: A wave is a disturbance that moves through a medium when the particles of the
medium set neighbouring particles into motion. They in turn produce similar motion in
others. The particles of the medium do not move forward themselves, but the
disturbance is carried forward. This is what happens during propagation of sound in a
medium, hence sound can be visualised as a wave. Sound waves are characterised by
the motion of particles in the medium and are called mechanical waves.

When a vibrating object moves forward, it pushes and compresses the air in front of it
creating a region of high pressure. This region is called a compression (C), as shown in
following figure. This compression starts to move away from the vibrating object. When
the vibrating object moves backwards, it creates a region of low pressure called
rarefaction (R).

As the object moves back and forth rapidly, a series of compressions and rarefactions is
created in the air. These make the sound wave that propagates through the medium.
Compression is the region of high pressure and rarefaction is the region of low
pressure.

Experiment to show Sound needs a medium:

Activity:

• Take and electric bell and airtight jar.

• Fit the bell inside the jar and attach to battery.
• With air still in jar ring the bell.
 • Now take out air by vaccumization.
• Ring the bell again.

Observation: Sound of bell can be heard when air is inside the jar. When air is taken
out then sound cannot be heard.

Conclusion: This shows that presence of medium is necessary for propagation of

sound waves.

Properties of Sound Waves:

Frequency: Number of oscillations of sound waves is called its frequency. The number
of peak and troughs per unit of time will give frequency. It is represented by v (nu) and
its SI unit is Hertz (Hz).
Time Period: The time taken to complete one oscillation is called its time period. Its unit
is second and is represented by T.

Relation of frequency and time period:

v = 1/T

Amplitude: The magnitude of the maximum disturbance in the medium on either side of
the mean value is called the amplitude of the wave. It is usually represented by the
letter A. Its unit is meter.

Softness or Loudness of Sound: If the amplitude is smaller then the sound will be
softer and if it is larger then sound will be louder. Higher amplitude helps the sound
wave is travelling faster.

Speed of sound: It is the distance which compression or a rarefaction travels per unit
of time.

So, Speed = Wavelength Frequency

The speed of the sound remains almost the same for all frequencies in a given medium
under the same physical condition.
Speed of Sound in Different Media at 25° C.

Reflection of Sound: Sound reflects off a surface in the same way as light reflects and
follows same rules of reflection. The incident sound and the reflected sound make equal
angles with the normal and all three are in the same plane.

Echo: In bigger monuments and in large empty halls you can hear reflections of your
sound after you speak something. This effect is known as echo. The sensation of sound
persists in our brain for 0.1 seconds, so to hear echo the time difference between
original sound and reflected sound should be more than that.
As you know speed of sound in air is = 344 m/s And 344 x 0.1 = 34.4 metre
So, the minimum distance required to hear an echo from a reflecting wall or surface
should be half of 34.4, means it should be 17.2 metres.

Reverberation: Repeated reflections of sound results in persistence of sound and is

called reverberation.

Use of Reverberation of Sound: Following instruments use this property of sound:

1. Megaphones, Shehanais, Trumpets

2. Stethoscope
3. Curved dome of concert halls

Range of Hearing in humans:

From 20 Hz to 20000 Hz
 Sounds below 20 Hz are called infrasonic.
Sounds above 20000 Hz are called ultrasonic.

Sound
Sound is a form of energy which produces a sensation of hearing in our ears.

Production of Sound
Sound is produced due to the vibration of objects.
Vibration is a periodic back-and-forth motion of the particles of an elastic
body or medium about a central position. It is also named as oscillation.
For example:
• Stretched strings of a guitar vibrate to produce sound.
• When membrane of a table is struck, it vibrates to produce sound.
Propagation of Sound
• The travelling of sound is called propagation of sound.
• Sound is propagated by the to and fro motion of particles of the medium.
• When an object vibrates, the particles around the medium vibrate. The
particle in contact with the vibrating object is first displaced from its
equilibrium position. Each particle disturbs the other particle in contact.
Thus, the disturbance is carried from the source to the listener.

Only the disturbance produced by the vibrating body travels through the
medium but the particles do not move forward themselves.

Medium
• The matter or substance through which sound is transmitted is called a
medium.
• A medium is necessary for the propagation of sound waves.
• The medium can be solid, liquid or gas.
• Sound cannot travel in vacuum.
Wave that requires medium to propagate is called Mechanical wave.
Wave
Wave is a phenomenon or disturbance in which energy is transferred from
one point to another without any direct contact between them. For example:
Heat, light and sound is considered as a wave.

Types of Waves
On the basis of direction of propagation, waves are categorized into two
parts:
(i) Longitudinal waves: These are the waves in which the particles of the
medium vibrate along the direction of propagation of the wave. For example:
sound wave.
(ii) Transverse waves: In this type of wave the particles of the medium
vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the
wave. For example: waves produced in a stretched string.
Another type of waves which do not require any medium for propagation are
called electromagnetic waves. These waves can travel through vacuum also.
For example, light waves, X-rays.
Compressions and Rarefactions:
• Compression is the part of wave in which particles of the medium are closer
to one another forming the region of high pressure and density.
Compressions are represented by the upper portion of the curve
called crest.
• Rarefaction is a part of the wave where particles spread out to form a region
of low pressure and density.
Rarefactions are represented by the lower portion of the curve
called trough.

Characteristics of a sound wave

Sound waves have following characteristics:
(1) Amplitude
(2) wavelength
(3) Frequency
(4) Time period
 (5)Velocity

Amplitude
• The maximum displacement of each particle from its mean position is called
amplitude.
• It is denoted by A.
• Its SI unit is metre (m).
Wavelength
• The distance between two nearest (adjacent) crests or troughs of a wave is
called its wavelength.
• It is denoted by the Greek letter lamda (λ).
• Its SI unit is metre.
Frequency
• The number of vibrations per second is called frequency.
• The SI unit of frequency is hertz (Hz).
• The symbol of frequency is ν (nu).
Time period
• The time taken to complete one vibration is called time period.
• It is denoted by T.
• Its SI unit is second (s).
• The frequency of a wave is the reciprocal of the time period.
i.e., v = 1/T

Velocity
• The distance travelled by a wave in one second is called velocity of the wave
or speed of the wave.
• Its S.I. unit is metres per second (m/s).
• Velocity = Distance travelled/Time taken
⟹ v = λ/T , where λ = wavelength of the wave travelled in one time
time period T)

⟹ v = λv (As 1/T = v)

Thus, Velocity = Wavelength × Frequency

v = λv is called the wave equation.

Pitch and loudness of Sound

Pitch: It represents shrillness or flatness of sound.
It depends on the frequency of vibration. Higher the frequency of sound
wave, the higher will be the pitch of sound and vice-versa.

Loudness: It is a measure of the sound energy reaching the ear per second.
It depends on the amplitude of the sound wave.
 It is measured in decibel ‘dB’.

Music And Noise

Music: It is the sound that is pleasant to hear. For example: Sound coming
out of musical instruments)
Noise: It is the sound that is unpleasant to hear. For example: Sound
produced by vehicles.
Tone and Note
Tone: A pure sound of single frequency is called tone.
Note: An impure sound produced by mixture of many frequencies is called a
note. For example: A musical note has tones of various frequencies.
Audible Frequency
The audible range of human ear is 20 Hz and 20,000HZ, i.e., the human
ears can hear only those waves whose frequency lies between 20 Hz and
20,000HZ.

Reflection of sound
When sound waves strike a surface, they return back into the same medium.
This phenomenon is called reflection.

Laws of reflection
There are two basic laws of reflection of sound:

(i) Angle of incidence is equal the angle of reflection.

(ii) The incident wave, the reflected wave and the normal all lie in the same
plane.

Applications of Reflection of Sound

Many instruments work on the basis of multiple reflections of sound:

• Megaphone, loudspeakers, bulb horns, musical instruments like trumpets,

shehnais etc. are designed to send sound by multiple reflections in a
particular direction due to which the amplitude of sound waves adds up to
increase loudness of sound.
• Stethoscope which is used by doctors to listen to the sounds from the
human body, also works on principle of multiple reflections of sound. Here,
sound of heartbeat reaches the doctor's ears by multiple reflections.
• In big halls or auditoriums sound is absorbed by walls, ceiling, seats, etc. So
a curved board (sound board) is placed behind the speaker. Then the voice
of speaker suffers multiple reflections to increase its loudness so that his
speech can be heard easily by audiences.
cho
• Phenomenon of hearing back our own sound is called an echo.
• It is due to successive reflection of sound waves from the surfaces or
obstacles of large size.
• To hear an echo, there must be a time gap of 0.1 second in original sound
and the reflected sound.
Necessary Conditions for the formation of an Echo
There are two conditions to experience the echo of sound -
(i) Time gap between the Sound must come back to the person after 0.1
second.
(ii) For above condition, the reflecting surface must be at a minimum
distance of 17.2m. It also depends on temperature.
Reverberation
• Persistence of sound wave for a long time because of repeated (multiple)
reflections of sound are called reverberation.
• In big concert halls, due to the reverberation, sound may become blurred
and distorted to be heard.
• To avoid reverberation, soft sound absorbent materials, such as curtains,
plant fibre, compressed fireboard, carpets, etc. are used in the auditorium.
Light Travels Faster Than Sound
Speed of light in air = 3 × 108 m/s
Man hears sound of thunder only after he sees the flash of lightning. This is
because light travels at a very great speed as compared to the speed of
sound, we see the flash before the sound.
Infrasonic and Ultrasonic Waves
Infrasonic Waves:
• The waves having frequency less than 20 Hz are infrasonic waves.
• A vibrating simple pendulum produces infrasonic sounds.
• Elephants and whales produces infrasonic waves.
• Earthquakes produces infrasonic waves
Ultrasonic Waves:
• The waves having frequency more than 20,000 Hz are ultrasonic waves.
• Bats and rats can produce ultrasonic sounds.
Applications of Ultrasound
These are the sound waves having frequency more than 20,000 Hz. Due to
the high frequency, ultrasound is associated with more energy and can
penetrate upto a large extent. This characteristic of ultrasound makes it very
useful for many purposes. Some of its uses are stated below:
• They are used to detect any deformities (flaws, cracks) in metal blocks or
sheets.
• They are used to clean the hard to reach parts of machinery, like spiral
tubes.
• Bats use ultrasound waves to find their prey. Bats produce high- pitched
ultrasonic squeaks. These squeaks are reflected by objects such as prey’s
and are returned to the bat's ear. This allows a bat to know the distance of
its prey.
• Dolphins use ultrasound to find fish and to detect sharks that may attack
them.
• Ultrasound waves are commonly used for medical diagnosis and therapy,
and also as a surgical tool.
• They are used to check the development of foetus during pregnancy to
detect any abnormalities.
• They find their application in breaking stones formed in the kidneys into fine
grains.
• Ecocardiography: These waves are used to reflect the action of heart and
its images are formed. This technique is called echocardiography.
• Ultrasonography: The technique of obtaining pictures of internal organs of
the body by using echoes of ultrasound waves is called ultrasonography.
Sonar
• Sonar stands for Sound Navigation And Ranging.
• It is a device which is used to find distance, direction and speed of
underwater objects like, water hills, valleys, icebergs, submarines, sunken
ships etc.
Working of SONAR

• SONAR consists of a transmitter and a receptor or detector and is installed

at the bottom of a ship.
• The transmitter produces and transmits ultrasonic waves.These waves travel
through sea water and after striking the objects on the bottom of sea, are
reflected back and received and recorded by the detector.
• The sonar device measures the time taken by ultrasound waves to travel
from ship to bottom of sea and back to ship.
• Half of this time gives the time taken by the ultrasound waves to travel from
ship to sea bed.
• Let the time interval between transmission and reception of ultrasound
signal is t.
Speed of sound through sea water is v

Total distance travelled by waves = 2d.

Then, 2d = v × t.

This method of measuring distance is also known as ‘echo-ranging’.

Human Ear
Structure of Human Ear
The human ear can be divided into three main parts: Outer ear, middle ear
and inner ear.

Outer Ear: The outer ear is outside the body and is also called pinna. It
extends into the ear canal. Ear canal is filled with air.
Middle Ear: The middle ear is composed of the ear drum or tympanunn( it
is an elastic membrane, circular in shape) and the bone ossicles. There are
three bone ossicles, namely, the hammer, the anvil and the strirrup.
Inner Ear: The internal ear is composed of a cochlea and three semi-
circular canals. The cochlea is filled with liquid. The cochlea makes the
hearing apparatus and the auditory nerve from it goes to the brain.
Eardrum is the intersection of the outer and middle ear.
Oval window is the intersection of middle and inner ear.
Working of Human Ear: The outer ear called pinna collects the sound
waves. The sound waves passes through the ear canal to a thin membrane
called eardrum. The eardrum vibrates. The vibrations are amplified by the
three bones of the middle ear called hammer, anvil and stirrup. The middle
ear then transmits the sound waves to the inner ear. In the inner ear the
sound waves are converted into electrical signals by the cochlea and sent to
the brain through the auditory nerves. The brain then interprets the signals
as sound.