Topic 6 Sound Waves Flashcards
What sound waves caused by
Vibrating objects that are passed through the surrounding medium as a series of compressions and rarefactions (type of longitudinal wave)
What does sound travel faster in
Faster in solids than liquids and faster in liquids than gases
How does that sound waves travel through a solid
By causing the particles in solid to vibrate
Why can’t sound travel in space
Because it’s mostly vacuum and there are no particles move on vibrate
What does sound waves that reach your eardrum do
Cause ear drum to vibrate
What are the vibrations in your eardrum pass on to
Tiny bones in your ear called ossicles through the semicircular canals and to the cochlea
What does the cochlea do to vibrations
Turns them into electrical signals which gets sent to your brain and allow you to sense/hear the sound
What is the sound range for humans
20 Hz to 20 kilohertz

Microphones can pick up sound waves outside of human hearing range but what would happen if you try to listen to them
You probably wouldn’t be able to hear them
What is human hearing limited by
The size and shape of your eardrum as well as the structure of all the parts within the air that vibrate to transfer the energy from the soundwave
How to microphones work
Sound waves cause a diaphragm to vibrate and this movement is transferred into electrical signal
What will sound waves be reflected by
Hard flat surfaces
What are echoes
Just reflected sound waves
How does sound waves refract as they enter a different media
As they enter a denser material they speed up
this is because when a wave travels into a different medium its wavelength changes but its frequency remains the same so its speed must also change
