Sound Study Guide

A guitar is played by striking or plucking its strings. This plucking action results in sound. The sound is created by

• the electrical connection to the guitar.

• the vibrations of the body of the guitar.

• the vibrations in the strings being plucked.

• the vibrations in the fingers plucking the strings.

While on the beach for a holiday picnic, you spot a man walking on the shoreline playing his guitar. When you first spotted him, you could barely hear the guitar.

As he walks away from you, what will happen to the volume of the sound you hear?

• It will lower the volume of the sound.

• The volume of the sound will get louder.

• The volume of the sound will get fainter.

• The volume of the sound will stay constant.

The table shows the number of times metal wires vibrate per second when they are plucked one by one. Which wire produced the sound with the highest pitch?

• Wire 1

• Wire 2

• Wire 3

• Wire 4

Sarah and Maria made a telephone using two cans and a string. It was a very long string. Maria went upstairs in her house and Sarah stayed downstairs. Maria spoke softly into the can. "I can hear you!' Sarah said back. How can this happen?

• Sound waves travel through a vacuum.

• Sound waves travel from high to low.

• Sound waves travel through solids like the string.

• Maria talked so loudly that Sarah could hear her without the phone.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS4-2

By now, you know that sound is produced by vibrations. These vibrations can travel through solids, liquids, and gases, but not through ______________.

• empty space

• granite rock

• living objects

• the center of the earth

Will a homemade telephone made of two cans and a string work better with a tightly-woven string or a loosely-woven string?

• a tightly woven string because it will not come apart as easily

• a loosely woven string because the sound waves have more room to move

• a tightly woven string because sound waves travel best through dense materials

• a loosely woven string because sound waves travel best through less dense materials

What does the term pitch describe?

• a high point of a wave

• how low or high a sound is

• how loud or soft a sound is

• the matter through which a wave travels

When you hold your nose and go underwater, you can still hear sounds that are made above the water, in the air, if they are loud enough. This is because the _________________ in the air get transferred to the water.

• lights

• pitches

• vibrations

• volumes

Sounds with rulers! Fun in science. You make the ruler vibrate to make a sound. How does the sound of the ruler, vibrating on the table, compare to the sound of a whistle at PE?

• The ruler is louder and has a higher pitch.

• The whistle is louder and has a lower pitch.

• The whistle is louder and has a higher pitch.

• The whistle is softer and has a higher pitch.

A saxophone can play notes at different pitches. What happens when the pitch of the sound changes from low to high?

• The medium had changed.

• The amplitude will change.

• The frequency becomes higher.

• The volume or loudness will change.