Lesson 1 of 6 · Sound
Experiment⭐ 30 XPHow Sound Is Produced and Carried
How Sound Is Produced and Carried.
🎯 Your mission
Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).
⚡ The twist
Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.
Mind = Blown
🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.
Make a hypothesis first
Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.
What You'll Learn
Sound begins with something vibrating. The vibration pushes nearby particles together into compressions and lets them spread into rarefactions, and this pattern travels outwards. Without particles there is nothing to compress, so sound cannot cross a vacuum.
Key Words
Tap a word to see its definition.
Materials Needed
- ruler
- tuning fork
- bowl of water
Safety First
- Strike the tuning fork on a rubber bung, never on a hard surface or the bench.
Steps
Read the explanation above and note the two key terms before you start.
Rest a ruler on a desk edge and twang it, shortening the overhang each time. Feel the desk vibrate, then touch a sounding tuning fork to water and watch it splash. Record what stops in each case when the vibration stops.
Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.
Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 2Sound cannot travel through a vacuum because a vacuum has no:
Where you see this in real life
This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.
For the dinner table
“What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”
Next Smart Experiment
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Share this experiment
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Ready?
How Sound Is Produced and Carried
Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).
Full screen — no distractions
Checkout complete lesson on Sound for 9th Grade
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