NOTES

CHAPTER – SOUND
 The sensation felt by our ears is called sound.
 Sound is a form of energy which makes us hear.
 Sound is produced when object vibrates or sound is
produced by vibrating objects.

Propogation of Sound
 Sound waves are known as mechanical waves as they need
medium for their propagation.
 The substance through which sound travels is called a
medium.
 The medium may be solid, liquid or gas. The speed of sound
is maximum in solids and least in gases
 The speed of increases with temperature and humidity.
 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).
 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 move away from the vibrating body.
 When vibrating body vibrates back a 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.

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.

Characteristics of Sound Wave

 In sound waves the combined length of a compression and
an adjacent rarefaction is called its wavelength.
OR
The distance between the centres of two consecutive
compressions or two consecutive rarefactions is also called its
wavelength.

 It is denoted by the Greek letter lamda (λ). Its SI unit is

metre.

Frequency
 No. of complete waves produced in one second or number of
vibrations per second is called frequency.
 The SI unit of frequency is hertz (Hz). The symbol of
frequency is v (nu).
 1 Hertz: One Hz is equal to 1 vibration per second.
Time Period
Time taken to complete one vibration 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.
• v = 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).
• 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 i.e it is a subjective quantity.
 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’.
• 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.
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).

⇒ v = λ/T
Velocity = Distance travelled/Time taken

(λ is the wavelength of the waves travelled in one time time

period T)
v = λv (1/T = v)

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

⇒ Distance = 344 × 0.1 = 34.4 m

344 = Distance/0.1 sec

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.

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
 Range of hearing in human is 20 Hz to 20000 Hz.
 The sounds of frequencies lower than 20 Hz are known as
‘infrasonic sounds’.

→ A vibrating simple pendulum produces infrasonic sounds.

→ Rhinoceroses
 The sounds of frequencies higher than 20 KHz are known as
‘ultrasonic waves’.
→ Dogs, parpoises, 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, than those are
amplified by amplifier. Amplified signals are send 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) Ecocardiography: 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.

SONAR
→ The word ‘SONAR’ stands for ‘Sound Navigation And Ranging’
The sonar is used to find the depth of sea, to locate underwater
hills, valleys, submarines, icebergs and sunken ships etc.