The Nature of Sound

Sound is a longitudinal, mechanical wave. Sound can travel through any medium, but it cannot travel through a vacuum. There is no sound in outer space. Sound is a variation in pressure. A region of increased pressure on a sound wave is called a compression (or condensation). A region of decreased pressure on a sound wave is called a rarefaction (or dilation).

[magnify] The sources of sound

vibrating solids rapid expansion or compression (explosions and implositons) Smooth (laminar) air flow around blunt obstacles may result in the formation of vorticies (the plural of vortex) that snap off or shed with a characteristic frequency. This process is called vortex shedding and is another means by which sound waves are formed. This is how a whistle or flute produces sound. Aslo the aeolian harp effect of singing power lines and fluttering venetian blinds.

What are the different characteristics of a wave? What are the things that can be measured about waves? Amplitude, frequency (and period), wavelength, speed, and maybe phase. Deal with each one in that order.

amplitude, intensity, loudness, volume

Amplitude goes with intensity, loudness, or volume. That's the basic idea. The details go in a separate section. [ISO 226:2003]

speed of sound
The speed of sound depends upon the type of medium and its state. It is generally affected by two things: elasticity and inertia. gases v= B P kT = = M liquids v= B B = bulk modulus

B = bulk modulus

 = density = CP/CV (specific heat ratio) P = absolute pressure k = boltzmann's constant T = absolute temperature M = molecular mass

= density solids v= Y Y = young's modulus = density

Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climates (ATOC)

in water, sounds below 1 kHz travel much farther than higher frequencies "shipping noise is loudest in the 30 to 200 Hz range [lowest piano note to middle of cello]" "blue and fin wales are the loudest sound in the 17 to 30 Hz range" "In pre-industrial times, the low frequency range of 15 to 300 Hz in which most of the baleen whales sing was the quietest part of the sound spectrum, nestled between the subsonic ramblings of earthquakes and the higher pitched rattle of wind, waves and rain." Bob Holmes. "Noises Off." New Scientist. 1 March 1997: 3033.

echoes scraps

As with any wave the speed of sound depends on the medium in which it is propagating. Sound generally travels faster in solids and liquids than in gases. The speed of sound is faster in materials that have some stiffness like steel and slower in softer materials like rubber. Factors Which Affect the Speed of Sound in Air. The speed of sound in air is approximately 330 m/s (about 1,200 kph or 700 mph). The speed of sound in air is nearly the same for all frequencies and amplitudes. It increases with temperature. Determining the Distance to a Lightning Bolt: Sound waves take approximately 5 seconds to travel 1 mile. Using this information, it is possible to measure one's distance from a lightning bolt. Begin counting immediately after you see the flash. Every five seconds counted is roughly equivalent to one mile of distance.

Speed of Sound in Various Materials solids v (m/s) liquids aluminum 6420 alcohol, ethyl beryllium 12,890 alcohol, methyl brass 4700 mercury brick 3650 water, distilled copper 4760 water, sea cork 500

v (m/s) 1207 1103 1450 1497 1531

glass, crown 5100 glass, flint 3980 gases (STP) v (m/s) glass, pyrex 5640 331 air, 000 gold 3240 343 air, 020 granite 5950 argon 319 iron 5950 carbon dioxide 259 lead 2160 helium 965 lucite 2680 hydrogen (H2) 1284 marble 3810 neon 435 rubber, butyl 1830 nitrogen 334 rubber, vulcanized 54 nitrous oxide 263 silver 3650 oxygen (O2) 316 steel, mild 5960 water vapor, 134 494 steel, stainless 5790 titanium 6070 biological materials v (m/s) wood, ash 4670 soft tissues 1540 wood, elm 4120 wood, maple 4110 wood, oak 3850 Sources: Unknown, but probably an old version of the CRC

frequency, pitch, tone

The frequency of a sound wave is called it pitch. High frequency sounds are said to be "high pitched" or just "high"; low frequency sounds are said to be "low pitched" or just "low". Frequency of Selected Sounds f (THz) device, event, phenomena, process 0.12 SASER (sound laser) f (MHz) device, event, phenomena, process 120 medical ultrasound f (kHz) 2580 4050 32.768 1820 45 device, event, phenomena, process bat sonar clicks ultrasonic cleaning quartz timing crystal upper limit of human hearing field cricket (Teleogryllus oceanicus)

25

maximum sensitivity of the human hear

f (Hz) device, event, phenomena, process 3003000 voice frequency (VF), important for understanding speech 2048 C7 scientific scale, highest note of a soprano singer (approximate) 440 A4 american standard pitch, tv test pattern tone 435 A4 international pitch 426.67 A4 scientific scale 261.63 C4 american standard pitch 258.65 C4 international pitch 256 C4 scientific scale, typical fundamental frequency for female vocal cords 128 C3 scientific scale, typical fundamental frequency for male vocal cords 64 C2 scientific scale, lowest note of a bass singer (approximate) 90 ruby-throated hummingbird in flight 60 alternating current hum (US and Japan) 50 alternating current hum (Europe) 820 lower limit of human hearing 1730 blue and fin wales are the loudest marine sounds in this range 15 tornadoes

human hearing and speech

Humans are generally capable of hearing sounds between 20 Hz and 20 kHz (although I can't hear sounds above 13 kHz). Sounds with frequencies above the range of human hearing are called ultrasound. Sounds with frequencies below the range of human hearing are called infrasound.

Typical sounds produced by human speech have freqeuncies on the order of 100 to 1000 Hz. The peak sensitivity of human hearing is around 4000 Hz. locating the source of sound o Interaural Time Difference (ITD) o Interaural Phase Difference (IPD) Phase differences are one way we localize sounds. Only effective for wavelengths greater than 2 head diameters (ear-to-ear distances). o Interaural Level Difference (ILD) Sound waves diffract easily at wavelengths larger than the diameter of the human head (around 500 Hz wavelength equals 69 cm). At higher frequencies the head casts a "shadow". Sounds in one ear will be louder than the other. The human ear can distinguish some

1400 different pitches three (four?) vocal registers o (whistle register?) o falsetto o modal the usual speaking register o vocal fry the lowest of the three vocal registers

More in the next section. infrasound

avalanches: location, depth, duration meteors: altitude, direction, type, size, location ocean waves: storms at sea, magnitude, spectra severe weather: location, intensity tornadoes: detection, location, warning, core radius, funnel shape, precursors turbulence: aircraft avoidance, altitude, strength, extent earthquakes: precursors, seismic-acoustic coupling volcanoes: location, intensity Elephants, whales, hippos, rhinoceros, giraffe, okapi, and alligator are just a few examples of animals that create infrasound. Some migratory birds are able to hear the infrasonic sounds produced when ocean waves break. This allows them to orient themselves with coastlines. An elephant is capable of hearing sound waves well below our the human hearing limitation (approximately 30 Hertz). Typically, an elephant's numerous different rumbles will span between 14 and 35 Hertz. The far reaching use of high pressure infrasound opens the elephant's spatial experience far beyond our limited capabilities. Silent Thunder, Katy Payne

ultrasound

animal echolocation o microchiropterans a.k.a. microbats: carnivorous bats (not fruit bats or flying foxes) o cetaceans: dolphins, porpoises, orcas, whales o two bird species: swiftlets and oilbirds o some visually impared humans have learned this technique sonar (an acronym for sound navigation and ranging) including o bathymetry o echo sounding o fish finders medical ultrasonography (the images generated are called sonograms).

Typical Parameters of Medical Ultrasound frequency power

intensity

pulse

(MHz) imaging, echo 1 20 imaging, doppler 1 20 physiotherapy 0.5 3 surgery 0.5 10 Source: Physics Today

(W) 0.05 0.15 <3 ~ 200

(W/cm2) 1.75 15.7 2.5 1,500

duration 0.2 1 s 0.3 10 s continuous 1 16 s

Frequency Hearing Ranges for Selected Animals (60 dB) fish actinopterygii american shad Alosa sapidissima goldfish Carassius auratus atlantic cod Gadus morhua tuna Thunnus catfish amphibians amphibia tree frog bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus cave salamander Proteus anguinus reptiles reptilia, sauropsida red-eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans spectacled caiman Caiman crocodilus birds aves mallard duck Anus platyrhynchus pigeon Columba livia chicken Gallus gallus canary Serinus canaria cockatiel Nymphicus hollandicus parakeet Melopsittacus undulatus penguin Spheniscus demersus owl mammals mammalia cattle Bos taurus sheep Ovis aries pig Sus scrofa domestica dog Canis lupus familiaris cat Felis silvestris catus ferret Mustela putorius furo raccoon Procyon lotor blue whale Balaenoptera musculus

frequency range (Hz) 200 180,000 5 2,000 2 500 50 1,100 50 4,000 frequency range (Hz) 50 4,000 100 2,500 10 10,000 frequency range (Hz) 68 840 20 6,000 frequency range (Hz) 300 8,000 ? 5,800 125 2,000 250 8,000 250 8,000 200 8,500 100 15,000 200 12,000 frequency range (Hz) 23 35,000 100 30,000 45 45,000 67 45,000 45 64,000 16 44,000 100 40,000 5 12,000

humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae 30 28,000 risso's dolphin Grampus griseus 8,000 100,000 beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas 1,000 123,000 atlantic bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus 75 150,000 greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum 2,000 110,000 jamaican fruit bat Artibeus jamaicensis 2,800 131,000 northern quoll Dasyurus hallucatus 500 40,000 opossum 500 64,000 hedgehog 250 45,000 rabbit 360 42,000 horse Equus caballus 55 33,500 japanese macaque Macaca fuscata 28 34,500 old world monkeys 60 40,000 human Homo sapiens 31 17,600 asian elephant Elephas maximus 16 12,000 guinea pig Cavia porcellus 54 50,000 chinchilla Chinchilla lanigera 90 22,800 hamster Mesocricetus auratus 80 45,000 rat Rattus 500 64,000 mouse Mus 2,300 85,500 gerbil Meriones unguiculatus 100 60,000 manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris 400 46,000 insects - insecta frequency range (Hz) noctuid moth 1,000 240,000 grasshopper

THE NATURE OF SOUND

By Federico Miyara

Sound Waves
Sound is created by a disturbance travelling in an elastic medium. For instance, when an excess pressure is produced on some region of the air, that region tends to expand towards the neighbouring zones. This, in turn, compresses those zones, creating a new excess pressure which will tend to expand next, and, again, a new excess pressure is further created. The pressure

disturbance will thus propagate through the air, and eventually it will reach some receiver (for instance a microphone or an ear). Excess pressure is called sound pressure. This kind of movement in which it is not the medium itself but some disturbance what is travelling, is called a wave. There are many other types of waves, such as radio waves, light, heat radiation, the ripples on the surface of a lake, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. When the wave takes place in a liquid or gaseous medium (except surface waves), the wave is called an acoustic wave. When a wave is audible, it is called a sound wave. A particularly important point regarding waves is that there are some features which keep almost unchanged along the wave's path, for instance the wave shape or its total energy (provided the medium is not dissipative). Acoustic waves travel usually at a given constant speed, which depends on the medium and environmental conditions such as temperature. At ambient temperature, the speed of sound in air is c = 345 m/s . This means that it takes one second for sound to go over a 345-meter distance. In water sound travels more than 4 times faster than in air. When there are temperature gradients, such as it happens between points hundreds of meters apart, or at different heigts, the speed of sound changes along its path, making the path a curve rather than a straight line. This is the reason why our perecption is fooled when we try to find out where an airplane is just by its sound.

Periodic waves
We introduced the concept of wave propagation by means of a single disturbance of a medium. Actually, most waves are the result of many succesive disturbances of the medium, instead of only one. When those disturbances are generated at regular intervals and are all the same shape we are in the presence of a periodic wave, and the number of disturbances per unit time is called the frequency of the wave. It is expressed in a unit called Hertz (Hz), meaning cycles per second (a cycle is all that happens in between a disturbance). In the case of sound waves, frequency is between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. Acoustic waves of frequency smaller than 20 Hz are called infrasounds, and those of frequency greater than 20,000 Hz are called ultrasounds. Neither of them can ordinarily been heard by humans. Several animals (such as the dog, for instance) can hear very low frequency sounds, such as those created by ground waves during an earthquake. This is the reason why animals go mad when an earthquake is about to take place: they can hear the "warning" signal we cannot. Similarly, animals usually can hear ultrasounds. Bats are a remarkable case: they can hear above 100,000 Hz, which allows them to orientate by means of sound signals, using a principle known as sonar (similar to the popular radar).

Aperiodic waves
Even if there are many sounds which are nearly periodic, such as those sounds produced by pitched musical instruments, the vast majority of sounds in Nature are aperiodic, that is,

succesive disturbances are not equally spaced in time, and are not of constant shape either. This is what in a technical sense is called noise. Aperiodic waves usually cannot convey the sensation of pitch. Some examples are the consonants of speech, urban noise, the noise of the wind and the sea, and the sound of many percussive instruments such as drums, charlestons, etc.

Spectrum
Spectrum is a central concept in Acoustics. When we introduced the concept of frequency, we said that periodic waves have an associated frequency. This is only part of the truth, however, since usually they have several frequencies at the same time. This is because a noteworthy mathematical theorem called Fourier's Theorem (after the French mathematician Fourier, who discovered it), which states that any periodic waveshape may be alternatively created by superposing different waves of a special shape called sine wave (or sinusoid), each of which has a frequency that is an integer multiple of the frequency of the original wave. So, when we hear a 100 Hz sound, we are actually hearing sine waves of frequencies 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 300 Hz, 400 Hz, 500 Hz and so on. These sine waves are called the harmonics of the original sound, and they happen to be clearly audible in certain musical instruments, such as the guitar. What about an original sound whose shape is already a sinusoid? When one tries to apply Fourier's theorem to a sinusoid, the result is that has a single harmonic of the same frequency as the original sinusoid, to be sure. (Note that Fourier's theorem does not say that all waveshapes must have several harmonics, but rather that any waveshape can be obtained as a superposition of a number of sinusoids, which might happen to be only one (as a matter of fact this is the case for a sinusoid!) The fact that each sine wave has a single frequency is the reason why sine waves are also called pure tones. The description of the sine waves which compose a given sound is called the spectrum of the sound. The spectrum of sound is important for several reasons. First, because it allows a description of sound waves which is closely related to the effect of different devices and physical modifiers of sound. In other words, if one knows the spectrum of a given sound, one can find out how it will be affected by, say, the absorptive properties of a thick carpet. The same is not true if one only knows its wave shape. Second, spectrum is important also because the aditory perception of sound is predominantly spectral in nature. In other words, before performing any further processing of the auditory signal our ears breake the incoming sound into its frequency components, i.e., the sine waves which, according to Fourier's theorem, form that sound. That is the reason why whith a little practice one can easily guess the notes which make up a chord. What about aperiodic sounds' spectra? Fourier's theorem can be extended to the case of aperiodic sounds. Aperiodic sounds may be as simple as bell-like sounds, or as complex as the so-called white noise (the noise captured by an FM receiver when there is no signal nor carrier). In the first case, we can manage to obtain a series of discrete (i.e., separate) frequencies even if their frequencies will no longer be integer multiples of anything. We might have for instance 100 Hz, 143.3 Hz, 227.1 Hz, 631.02 Hz. In the second case, we have... all frequencies! This is what is called a continuous spectrum.

Sound Intensity
Why are some sounds louder than others? There are many reasons, but the main one is traceable to the amplitude of sound waves. The amplitude of a sound wave is the maximum excess pressure of the sound wave in each cycle. In the case of noise, the amplitud may be continuously changing, and it is customary to compute some sort of average. There are several approaches to the analysis of loudness, which may be found in the accompanying document on Sound Levels.

The Nature of a Sound Wave

Sound is a Mechanical Wave | Sound is a Longitudinal Wave | Sound is a Pressure Wave

Student Extras Teacher's Guide Sound is a Pressure Wave

Sound is a mechanical wave that results from the back and forth vibration of the particles of the medium through which the sound wave is moving. If a sound wave is moving from left to right through air, then particles of air will be displaced both rightward and leftward as the energy of the sound wave passes through it. The motion of the particles is parallel (and anti-parallel) to the direction of the energy transport. This is what characterizes sound waves in air as longitudinal waves. A vibrating tuning fork is capable of creating such a longitudinal wave. As the tines of the fork vibrate back and forth, they push on neighboring air particles. The forward motion of a tine pushes air molecules horizontally to the right and the backward retraction of the tine creates a low-pressure area allowing the air particles to move back to the left.

Because of the longitudinal motion of the air particles, there are regions in the air where the air particles are compressed together and other regions where the air particles are spread apart. These regions are known as compressions and rarefactions respectively. The compressions are regions of high air pressure while the rarefactions are regions of low air pressure. The diagram below depicts a sound wave created by a tuning fork and propagated through the air in an open tube. The compressions and rarefactions are labeled.

The wavelength of a wave is merely the distance that a disturbance travels along the medium in one complete wave cycle. Since a wave repeats its pattern once every wave cycle, the wavelength is sometimes referred to as the length of the repeating patterns - the length of one complete wave. For a transverse wave, this length is commonly measured from one wave crest to the next adjacent wave crest or from one wave trough to the next adjacent wave trough. Since a longitudinal wave does not contain crests and troughs, its wavelength must be measured differently. A longitudinal wave consists of a repeating pattern of compressions and rarefactions. Thus, the wavelength is commonly measured as the distance from one compression to the next adjacent compression or the distance from one rarefaction to the next adjacent rarefaction. Since a sound wave consists of a repeating pattern of high-pressure and low-pressure regions moving through a medium, it is sometimes referred to as a pressure wave. If a detector, whether it is the human ear or a man-made instrument, were used to detect a sound wave, it would detect fluctuations in pressure as the sound wave impinges upon the detecting device. At one instant in time, the detector would detect a high pressure; this would correspond to the arrival of a compression at the detector site. At the next instant in time, the detector might detect normal pressure. And then finally a low pressure would be detected, corresponding to the arrival of a rarefaction at the detector site. The fluctuations in pressure as detected by the detector occur at periodic and regular time intervals. In fact, a plot of pressure versus time would appear as a sine curve. The peak points of the sine curve correspond to compressions; the low points correspond to rarefactions; and the "zero points" correspond to the pressure that the air would have if there were no disturbance moving through it. The diagram below depicts the correspondence between the longitudinal nature of a sound wave in air and the pressure-time fluctuations that it creates at a fixed detector location.

The above diagram can be somewhat misleading if you are not careful. The representation of sound by a sine wave is merely an attempt to illustrate the sinusoidal nature of the pressure-time fluctuations. Do not conclude that sound is a transverse wave that has crests and troughs. Sound waves traveling through air are indeed longitudinal waves with compressions and rarefactions. As sound passes through air (or any fluid medium), the particles of air do not vibrate in a transverse manner. Do not be misled - sound waves traveling through air are longitudinal waves.

Check Your Understanding

1. A sound wave is a pressure wave; regions of high (compressions) and low pressure (rarefactions) are established as the result of the vibrations of the sound source. These compressions and rarefactions result because sound
a. is more dense than air and thus has more inertia, causing the bunching up of sound.

b. waves have a speed that is dependent only upon the properties of the medium. c. is like all waves; it is able to bend into the regions of space behind obstacles. d. is able to reflect off fixed ends and interfere with incident waves e. vibrates longitudinally; the longitudinal movement of air produces pressure fluctuations.

Jump To Lesson 2: Sound Properties and Their Perception

What is rarefaction and compression?

Physics Questions

Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > Science > Physics Best Answer Compression is a Pushing Force whereas Rarefaction is a Pulling Force[Compression is the point when the most force is being applied to a molecule&Rarefaction is the point when the least force is applied]. Compression happens when particles are forced/pressed together.Rarefaction is just the opposite,it occurs when particles are given extra space&allowed to expand. Compression&Rarefaction are Effects the wave causes. If you look at any normal visual representation of a Sound Wave,the humps above the middle line are called Compressions,the humps below are called Rarefactions.