DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL – BOPAL, AHMEDABAD (2024-25)

(Study material)
Class IX Chapter 11: SOUND Subject: Physics

SOUND: Sound is mechanical energy which produces sensation of hearing.

To show that sound is a form of energy we must be able to show that it can do work (because
energy is the ability to do work). Work is done when an object is being moved. So we need to
show that sound can move something.

Demonstration: Hang a balloon in front of a speaker; note that when the speaker is turned on
the balloon moves.

PRODUCTION OF SOUND:
Demonstration of few activities:
Stretched Rubber band and paper rider, Vibrations of a metal scale, Vibrations of a tuning
fork, Geometry box with items inside it (Shaking)
In all the above cases we see that the objects are vibrating and producing sound.

Vibration means a kind of to & fro motion of an object.

Conclusion: Sound is produced when an object vibrates.

PROPOGATION OF SOUND: To reach the listener, sound passes through a medium-

Solid or Liquid or Gas

THE PROCESS….
1.Vibrating object sets the particles of the medium around it into vibration.
2. A particle of the medium in contact with the vibrating object is first displaced from
its equilibrium position.
3. This particle exerts force on the adjacent particle. As a result of which the adjacent
particle gets displaced from position of rest.
4. The first particle now comes back to its original position.
5. This process continues in the medium till the sound reaches our ear.
6. The disturbance created by source of sound travels through the medium and not the
particles of the medium.

Conclusion: Sound created by the source reaches the listener through the particle of the
medium without any net transport of the medium .

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 SOUND IS A WAVE….WHY?

REASON……
A wave is a disturbance that moves through a medium when particles of the medium set
neighbouring particles into motion. They in turn produce similar motion.
Particles do not move but disturbance is carried forward. Same happens during propagation
of sound. Hence sound is a wave.

SOUND IS A MECHANICAL WAVE: Sound waves are characterised by motion of

particles in the medium. Sound needs a material medium to travel like air, water, steel
etc…It cannot travel through vacuum.

PROPAGATION OF SOUND IN TUNING FORK

SOUND IS A PRESSURE WAVE: Sound wave consists of alternate regions of high density
(high pressure) and low density (low pressure) . Hence it is called a pressure wave.

COMPRESSIONS & RAREFACTIONS

• Compression: A portion of the medium where a temporary reduction in volume and

consequently an increase in density ( and pressure) takes place when a sound wave passes
through a medium.

• Rarefaction: A portion of the medium where a temporary increase in volume and consequently
an decrease in density ( and pressure) takes place when a sound wave passes through a
medium.

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BELL JAR EXPERIMENT

THE EXPERIMENT……..
• The electric bell is suspended inside the airtight bell jar.The bell jar is connected to a vacuum
pump.
• When we press the switch we will be able to hear the sound of bell.
• When the air in the jar is pumped out gradually, the sound becomes fainter.
• After some time very less air is left inside the jar. We hear a very feeble sound.
• If all air is removed, then we don’t hear any sound.
Conclusion: Sound needs a medium to travel.

SOUND WAVES ARE LONGITUDINAL WAVES

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 Longitudinal Waves Transverse Waves
The displacement of the medium is parallel to The displacement of the medium is
the direction of propagation of the wave. perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the
wave.

Needs a medium for propagation Does not need a medium for propagation
Consists of Compressions & rarefactions. Eg: Consists of crests and troughs Eg:
Sound waves Light waves.

• Crest: The point of maximum positive displacement on a transverse wave.

• Trough: The point of maximum negative displacement on a transverse wave.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WAVE:
• Wavelength: The distance between adjacent crests or two adjacent trough of a wave. It is
denoted by λ. Its SI unit is Metre (m)
.
• Frequency : The number of a waves produced per second. It is denoted by ν. Its SI unit is
Hertz (Hz).

• Amplitude: The maximum displacement of particles of the medium from their mean positions
during the propagation of a wave. It is denoted by A. Its SI unit is Metre (m).

RELATION BETWEEN FREQUENCY & TIME-PERIOD:

• Time period: The time taken to complete one complete vibration. It is denoted by T. Its SI
unit is Second (s)

• Frequency of a wave is the reciprocal of its time period. Frequency = 1/Time period
f = 1/T

• Wave velocity: The distance travelled by the wave in one second is called wave velocity(or
speed of a wave). It depends upon the nature of the medium through which it passes. It is
denoted by “ v”. Its S.I unit is m/s or ms-1

• Relationship between Velocity, Frequency and wavelength of a wave:

Velocity = Distance travelled

Time taken

v = λ/T we know 1/T = f Thus v = f λ

i.e Velocity of wave = Frequency x Wavelength

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 SPEED OF SOUND:
• Speed of sound tells us the rate at which sound travels from the sound producing body to our
ears.
Speed of sound in air at 20 ᴼC is 344 m/s.
• The speed of sound depends on:
Nature of the medium: Sound travels slowest in gases, faster in liquids and fastest in solids.
Temperature: As the temperature of air rises, the speed of sound in it increases.
Humidity: As the humidity of air increases, the speed of sound through it also increases.

SUPERSONIC :
It refers to the speed of an object which is greater than the speed of sound. Objects such as
aircrafts, bullets, rockets fly at supersonic speeds.
SONIC BOOM: Sonic boom is an explosive noise caused by the shock waves from an
aircraft(or any other object) which is travelling at supersonic speed. This produces intolerable
loud noise which causes pain in our ears.

Characteristics of Sound

1) PITCH: How the brain interprets the frequency of an emitted sound is called Pitch.
The faster the vibration of the source ,the higher is the frequency and higher is the pitch.
Objects of different sizes and conditions vibrate at different frequencies to produce sounds of
different pitch.

2) LOUDNESS: It is the sound energy reaching our ear per unit time.
The loudness or softness of a sound is determined by its amplitude.
The amplitude depends upon the force with which an object is made to vibrate.
Soft Sound: Sound waves of less energy (amplitude).
Loud Sound: Sound waves of more energy (amplitude).

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 Loudness ὰ (Amplitude)2

The loudness of sound is measured in ‘decibel’, written as dB.

3) QUALITY OR TIMBER OF SOUND: It is that characteristic which enables us to

distinguish one sound from another having the same pitch and loudness. The sound which is
more pleasant is said to be of a rich quality.
It depends on the shape of wave form.

Tone: A sound of single frequency.

Note: The sound which is produced due a mixture of several frequencies and is pleasant to
listen to.
Noise : Sound which is unpleasant to hear.
Intensity of Sound: The amount of sound energy passing each second through the unit area
is called the intensity of sound.

Energy x Time
Intensity =
Area
The SI unit of intensity of a sound is W/m2.

REFLECTION OF SOUND: The bouncing back of sound when it strikes a hard surface is
called reflection of sound. Sound is reflected well from hard surfaces like a wall, a metal sheet,
hard wood and a cliff.
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• The laws of reflection of sound:
1.The incident wave, the reflected wave and the normal all lie in the same plane.
2. The angle of reflection of sound is equal to the angle of incidence of sound

ECHO: Echo is a repetition of sound due to the reflection of original sound by a large and
hard obstacle.
• It will be heard only if there is a time interval of a least 0.1 s between the original and reflected
sound.
• The minimum distance required for hearing echo is 17.2 m at 20ᴼC.
• The minimum distance to hear an echo will change with temperature. Since the speed of sound
is more on a hotter day, therefore, an echo is heard sooner on a hot day than on a cold day.
• Speed of sound in water is different from speed of sound in air. Therefore the minimum
distance for hearing echo will be different.

REVERBERATION: The persistence of sound in a big hall due to repeated reflections from
the walls, ceilings and floor of the hall is called reverberation.
A short reverberation is desirable in music concert as it gives ‘life’ to sound & boosts the
sound level. If reverberation is too long, then the sound becomes blurred, distorted &
confusing due to overlapping of different sounds.

METHODS TO REDUCE REVERBERATION:

• Panels made of sound absorbing material are put on the walls & ceilings of big halls &
auditoriums.
• Carpets are put on the floor to absorb sound .
• Heavy curtains are put on the doors and windows to absorb sound.
• Materials having sound absorbing properties is used for making the seats in big hall or
auditorium to reduce reverberation.

USES OF MULTIPLE REFLECTION OF SOUND:

• MEGAPHONE : A megaphone is a large, cone shaped device for amplifying & directing the
voice of a person who speaks into it.

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 When a person speaks into the narrow end of the megaphone tube, the sounds waves are
prevented from spreading by successive reflections from the wider end of the megaphone and
guided in the forward direction.Due to this the sound can be heard over a longer distance.

• BULB HORN: It is a cone shaped instrument which is used for signaling in bicycles, cars,
buses, trucks and boats etc. It consists of a cone shaped bent metal tube having a hollow rubber
bulb at its narrow end. When the rubber is pressed with hand, air is forced out from the tube
making a loud sound. A bulb horn also works on the multiple reflection of sound.

• SOUND BOARD: CEILING OF CONCERT HALL

The ceilings of concert halls, conference halls and cinema halls are curved so that sound after
reflection reaches all corners of the hall. Sometimes a sound board may be placed behind the
stage so that sound waves after reflecting from the sound board spreads evenly across the
width of the hall.

• STETHOSCOPE: It is a medical instrument used for listening to sounds in the heart or the
lungs. It consists of three parts: (i) Chest piece(consists of a diaphragm at its bottom).The
diaphragm amplifies the sound.
(ii) Two ear-pieces(which are made of metal tubes).These are put by the doctor into his ears.
(iii) A rubber tube which joins the chest piece to the ear pieces.The rubber tube transmits the
sound from the chest piece to the ear pieces.

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 In stethoscope the sound of the heartbeat reaches the doctor’s ears by multiple reflection of
sound through the stethoscope tube.

RANGE OF HEARING:
The audible range of sound for human beings extends from about 20 Hz to 20 KHz. IHz = one
cycle/s. 1 KHz = 1000 Hz

INFRASONIC : Sound of frequency less than 20 Hz are called infrasonic.

Earthquakes, and some animals like whales, elephants and rhinoceroses produce
infrasonic sounds.

ULTRASONIC : Sound of frequency more than 20 KHz are called Ultrasonic.

Bats, monkeys, deer, cats, dolphins, porpoises and leopard can also hear ultrasonic sounds.

APPLICATIONS OF ULTRASOUND:
• Ultrasound is generally used to clean parts located in hard to reach places. Objects are
placed in a cleaning solution and ultrasonic waves are sent into the solution. Due to high
frequency dust, grease gets detached and drop out. Thus through cleaning is done.

• Detection of flaws in metal: Ultrasonic waves are allowed to pass through the metal block
and detectors are used to detect the transmitted waves. If there is even a minor defect, the
ultrasound waves gets reflected back indicating the presence of flaw/defect.

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• Ultrasonography: Ultrasound scanner is used for getting images of internal organs of the
human body. A doctor may image the patient’s organs such as the liver, gall bladder, uterus,
kidney etc. The ultrasound waves travel through the tissues & get reflected from a region
where there is change of tissue density. These waves are then converted into electrical signals
& used to generate images of the organ.
It is also used for examining the fetus during pregnancy to detect growth abnormalities

• Ultrasound because of its high frequency is used to break small stones in the kidney into fine
grains. These grains later get flushed out with urine.

• Ultrasound waves is emitted and detected by the bats to locate their prey. The high pitched
ultrasonic squeaks of the bat are reflected from the obstacle or the prey and returned to the
bat’s ear. The nature of the reflections tells the bat where the obstacle or prey is and what it is
like. This is called echo-location.

Extra Information
SONAR: It is the acronym for Sound navigation and ranging. Sonar is a device that measures
the distance, direction and speed of underwater objects. It consists of a transmitter and a
detector installed in a ship/boat. The transmitter transmits ultrasonic waves which travels
through water. After striking the object it gets reflected back and sensed by the detector. The
detector converts these waves to electrical signals which are interpreted. Here the total
distance travelled by the wave is 2d.

Then 2d = v x t
Where, v = speed of sound through sea water.
t = time interval between transmission and reception of ultrasound signal.

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The above method is called echo-ranging. It is used to determine the depth of sea and locate
underwater hills, sunken ships, submarines, icebergs etc.

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