What’s happening?
Sound vibrations travel through air. They also travel through
liquids, like water, and through solids. The medium through
which sound travels greatly affects the way the vibrations
move, and thus the way we perceive the sound.
It may seem weird to you that sound can travel through liquids
and solids, but as long as there are particles that can vibrate,
there can be sound. Think of all the particles in a solid table,
for example, as being connected together with tiny springs in
between each particle. When you push one particle, the energy
is transmitted through the spring to the next particle, and so
on. In fact, the less compressible a material is, the faster sound
travels through it! Sound travels four times faster in water than
air, and 15 times faster in iron than air.
You will need:
Setup from Experiment 3
Here’s how:
1
Try the “Making sound visible”
experiment with water. It also
produces some very interesting
visual effects, even though it
looks totally different. You can
also try a combination of sand
and water. You may be able to
think of other materials to try
with this experiment as well.
Experiment 4:
Making sound visible
in water
Oontz Oontz
Oontz Oont
z!
10
