MYP3 7th

Sept 2021 (The Physics Classroom)

FA1 Sound

Task Description:
This document contains an incomplete lab report on factors affecting speed of sound. Complete the incomplete
sections. [Note: The completed sections are in bold]

Assessment criteria:
You will be assessed on the following criteria:
Criterion B: Inquiring and designing
Criterion C: Processing and evaluating
[criteria descriptors at the end of this document]

Research question:

How does temperature of the medium affect the speed of sound when the source used is the same and is kept
at the same distance?

Background research:

What is a longitudinal wave?

A longitudinal wave is where the vibrations of the individual particles of the medium are parallel to the
direction of the energy transported. In this image, a slinky is used to show how the energy is transferred. As
you can see when energy passes through the slinky, each of the individual coils move in the same direction of
the energy transport. Sound is a longitudinal wave because the vibrations of the particles move parallel in the
direction that the sound wave moves.

How does sound travel through air?

When a sound is made (e.g.: hitting a drum, guitar strum) the source of the sound wave has to vibrate. This
means the string of the guitar vibrates as the source of the sound which bumps into the nearby air molecules.
These air molecules then move back and forth which cause the neighbouring air molecules to vibrate. Since
sound is a longitudinal wave, the air molecules will move parallel to the vibration of the source. These particles
cause a chain reaction in the particles because of the energy being transported through the medium, we can
then hear the sound because our eardrum vibrates. Since vibrations are repetitive, the back and forth of the
air molecules causes areas to have many molecules to be pushed together and areas to have lesser molecules
and have them more spread out. These create compressions and rarefactions.

What is the speed of sound?

The speed of sound in non-humid 20˚C Air is about 343 m/s. The speed of the wave is not determining the
speed at which the air molecules move back and forth. Even though they move at that speed, when we refer
to the speed of sound, this is the speed of the compressions as they move through the medium. This is
because the we can locate the wave where the molecules are compressed (SantoPietro).

What are the factors affecting speed of sound?

There are 2 main factors affecting the speed of sound, density and temperature. In this experiment, the
temperature is the factor we are testing. Sound waves travel faster through denser mediums as the molecules
are tightly packed with one another. Since the molecules move faster, the speed of sound is increased. If the
sound is moving through air, the presence of humidity also affects sound. Although it seems like humidity
would increase the speed of sound due to the presence of more molecules in the air, the results are more
complicated. An experiment done by professor Cyril M. Harris shows that from 0-14% relative humidity in the
air, the speed of sound decreased and only after the humidity was increased, the speed of sound increased
(Harris). Here is a graph with the results of his experiment:

The altitude at which the sound wave travels as well as wind affect the speed of sound. This is because there is
more wind at higher altitudes. The wind refracts the sound meaning that if the sound travels downwind, the
sound will refract downwards and vice versa (Stephen). This can change the amplitude of the sound (volume).
How does the temperature of the medium affect the speed of sound?

The higher the kinetic energy of a molecule, the higher the temperature. This is because heat and kinetic
energy have a relationship. Warmer air molecules move faster than colder air molecules. This means that
sound waves will travel faster in conditions with more heat than less. Air molecules with less heat move at a
slower pace which means that they will carry sound waves at a slower pace too.

Hypothesis:

If the temperature is increases then the speed of the sound wave will also increase because the greater the
temperature of air, the greater the kinetic energy of the air molecules. This causes the vibrations to also be
faster and the energy transfer from molecule to molecule to be faster causing the sound to travel at a faster
pace. The environment where the speed of sound will be fastest will be the hot desert, followed by the cold
desert, and where the speed of sound will be slowest is the frozen tundra.

Variables:

Independent variable:

Description Variations and trials How will it be manipulated /

varied?
The environment in which the There will be 3 trials done in The environment can be
experiment will be conducted. each variation. These variations manipulated in the simulation
This means the major change will be the hot desert, cold by clicking on the top of the
between variations is the desert and the frozen tundra screen where the current
temperature of the which each vary in environment’s name is. This will
environment. temperature. change the environment of the
simulation.

Dependant variable:

Description How will it be measured?

The variable that will be measured is the time This will be measured by the user of the
taken for the sound to be heard. The variable simulation. Once the bomb is activated a timer
that will be calculated will be the speed at which will start on the top of the screen, the user must
the sound travelled for it to be heard. click a “stop” button when they hear the sound.
That is how the time it takes for the sound to
travel to the bomb is measured (in milliseconds).

Control variables:

Description How will it be controlled?

The distance between the person and the bomb This can be controlled within the simulation by
will be controlled between experiments in each clicking the “Placement” button which will take
environment. This distance will be 800m. the user to a scale. By clicking the “Move”
button, the user can randomly change the
distance at which the explosive is fired, this is
remained constant for all the trials.
The medium in which the sound propagates This is controlled since the source of the sound is
remains the same in each environment. the explosive which is why the sound travels
through the air to the person operating the
explosive. All trials will be conducted so that the
medium the sound travels through is air.
The source of the sound is the same in every This is controlled since the explosive itself and it’s
experiment. intensity or sound energy transported through
the medium is the same in every environment.
The simulation uses the exact same explosive for
each experiment.
The person conducting the experiment will also This is controlled by the conductor of the
make sure the reaction time is relatively the experiment as they will be the only person
same. performing the experiment and no one else will
be able to click the “stop” button in the
simulation.

Apparatus:

Apparatus name Unit Description

Flash player (Nil) Latest version of the flash
player needs to be installed on
the laptop for the simulation to
be run
Operating System (Nil) An operating system is needed
for Google Chrome and Flash
Player to function
Search Engine Application 1 A search engine is needed in
order to open the simulation,
this can be Google Chrome,
Yahoo etc.
Device 1 Any device which has the
search engine app installed and
can run the simulation is
appropriate for this
experiment. It can be a laptop,
a desktop, an iPad etc.
Procedure:

1. Ensure you have Flash player installed for this experiment on your laptop. If not, then simulation will
prompt you to download one and take you to the necessary website.
2. For the remaining of this experiment, we will use this simulation.
3. Click on “begin” to start the simulation.
4. A screen will appear that will show your position with respect to the position of the explosive. You can
change the position of the explosive by clicking the “move” icon. But once set, we will not change the
position throughout the experiment.
5. Set the position to 3.1km [this is the default position when you click the “begin” button, and need not
change anything to set this]
6. Once the position is set, click on the “start” button.
7. Note down the environment, example: “hot dessert”
8. Pull down the trigger of the explosive – this will start the timer and once you hear the loud sound, click
stop.
9. Note this time down and click “reset” to complete 3 trials of the same environment.
10. After 3 trials are done, click on the environment to change the temperature to “cool dessert”.
11.Perform the experiment again without changing the placement of the explosive. Take 3 trials for the new
environment and repeat for “frozen tundra” environment as well.

Risk assessment:

1. Any and all firewalls will be activated during the experiment

2. Only the tab of the experiment will be open to prevent cross-tab tracking
3. There will be no food and drink near the vicinity of the device where the experiment is being performed
 4. Any and all sensitive files will be backed up to the cloud in case of hacking
5. All software will be up to date in the latest version
6. The volume of the computer will not be at the highest setting to prevent damage to the ears when the loud
sound is played during the experiment
7. The tab with the simulation will not be force quit.

Data collection:

Raw data table

Time taken for blast to be heard (milliseconds)

Environment
T1 T2 T3
Hot dessert 2583 2601 2540
Cold dessert 2642 2681 2680
Frozen tundra 2822 2842 2781

Sample calculation

Conversion (millisecond to seconds)

milliseconds
Conversion: Seconds =
1000

Milliseconds = 2583

2583
Substitution = = 2.583
1000

Time in seconds = 2.583 seconds

Speed

distance
Formula: Speed =
time

Distance = 800m
Time = 2583 milliseconds (2.583 seconds)

800
Substitution: Speed =
2.583
= 309.7173829

Speed of Sound = 309.72 m/s (Rounded to 2 decimal places)

Average
Formula: Average =
∑ of allValues
Total Number of Values

Values (Speed of Sound (m/s)): 309.72, 307.57, 314.96

Sum of Values = 932.2

Total Number of Values = 3

932.2
Substitution: Average = = 310.733
3

Average = 310.733 m/s

Processed data table

Environment Average speed of sound for the blast to be heard (m/s)

Hot dessert 310.733
Cold dessert 299.902
Frozen tundra 284.217

Plot graph:

Analysis of data:

As shown in the graph above, the speed of sound was fastest in the hottest climate (hot desert) which had
the highest temperature. The average speed was 310.733 m/s which was the greatest of the three
environments. The environment where the speed of sound was the second fastest was the cold desert where
the average speed was 299.902 m/s. The environment with the slowest average speed of sound was the
frozen tundra with 284.217 m/s. This shows that as the temperature decreases in the separate environments,
so does the speed of the sound wave. The difference of average speed between the hot desert and cold desert
is 10.831, and the difference of average speed between the cold desert and the frozen tundra was 15.685. This
is showing us that the speed difference between hot and cold desert was less than that of the frozen tundra.
This is appropriate because the difference in temperature between the hot and cold desert is probably less
than that of between the cold desert and frozen tundra. In the raw data it can be seen that the lesser the time
taken, the greater the speed. This is because time is inversely proportional to speed. This is shown in the
sample calculations. Overall, from the results of the experiments it can be concluded that the greater the
temperature, the lesser the speed of sound. This is because the kinetic energy increases in molecules as
temperature increases, thus the energy transmission from molecule to molecule is faster.

Analysis of hypothesis:

As shown in the results of the experiments, it is proven that the speed of the sound transmission increases
with temperature. This means the hypothesis is true because as stated in the hypothesis, increase in
temperature also increases the speed at which sound travels. This is because when the source of the sound
vibrates it creates areas of high and low pressure with the air molecules and it causes longitudinal movement
(Science World). Temperature increases the kinetic energy of a molecule. This means that the back-and-forth
movements of the air molecules will move faster when the temperature is higher thus increasing the speed of
sound.

Analysis of method

Errors in experiment Impact of error on Improvement

experiment
Since the experiment has to The measurement of the The only way to improve the
do with when the student data is in milliseconds accuracy of the experiment is
hears the sound, this means meaning that even minute to increase the number of
that the reaction time plays a changes in reaction time can trials. This would result to a
major role in the collection create a major impact on the more accurate average,
of data. experiment. This means that although it will not be
the final result of the perfectly accurate due to this
experiment can also be error.
affected by poor reaction
time.
If the medium is moving this This may increase or There is no way to improve
may increase or decrease the decrease the results of the this error since the
absolute speed of the sound experiment depending on experiment is simulated. If it
wave depending on the where the wind is travelling was not simulated the
direction of the movement. at that time. In the final experiment could be set up
Sound moving through wind analysis, it is possible that to always measure the sound
will have it’s speed of the increase/decrease was downwind or upwind but
propagation increased by the due to temperature but this wouldn’t have a
speed of the wind if the there is always the possibility completely accurate result as
sound and wind are moving of it being due to the wind. the amount of wind is
in the same direction and variable and so is the
vice versa. The amount of altitude. This means that it is
 wind depends on the altitude an uncontrollable variable in
which varies from each the experiment.
environment.
The humidity present in the In studies done by the There is no way to improve
environment can change the University of Columbia, it is this error without changing
speed of the sound wave. shown that the effect of the entire design of the
humidity is very minimum experiment to eliminate
and would not have much of humidity.
an impact on the final results
of the experiment.
The density of the air varies The changes in air density is There is no way to improve
from place to place and time very minimum and its effect this error through the
to time. Since density is a would not have much of an simulation. The only way to
factor affecting the speed of impact on the final results of improve this error would be
sound, changes in density the experiment. The only if all the trials were done in
can influence the results of thing that would have a the same location. This is
the experiment. major effect on air density however not possible as if all
would be water molecules the trials were done in the
which would increase the same location, the
humidity, which even then independent variable of
wouldn’t have a major temperature would not
impact on the final results of change.
the experiment.
The internet speed may delay This error can cause a major An improvement could be
the sound. impact on the experiment that the experiment will only
since milliseconds are very be done when the internet
fast, meaning that any delay speed is at a certain level by
would cause an impact in the testing the internet speed,
experiment. minimizing the delay.

Extension:

This investigation was about how temperature affects the speed of sound. In further studies, experiments
on how density and humidity affect speed can also be done. Another experiment could be how the medium in
which sound propagates affects the speed of the sound wave or how the source of the sound affects the
speed of the sound wave. Attributes of the wave itself can also be tested to see how they affect the speed of a
sound wave, this can be the frequency, amplitude or wavelength of the wave.

Works Cited
The Physics Classroom. Sound as a Longitudinal Wave. n.d. September 2021.
<https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/Lesson-1/Sound-as-a-
Longitudinal-Wave>.
SantoPietro, David. Speed of Sound. 14 January 2014.
Harris, Cyril M. Effects of Humidity on the Velocity of Sound in Air . Lab Report. New York:
Columbia University, 1969.
Science World. Sound. n.d. <https://www.scienceworld.ca/resource/sound/>.
Iowa State University. Sound Wave Propagation. n.d.
<https://www.nde-ed.org/Physics/Sound/elasticsolids.xhtml>.
Stephen, Mike. Effect of Wind on Sound Transmission. 13 March 2018.
<https://sciencing.com/effect-wind-sound-transmission-23531.html>.