SOUND

SOUND
Sound,physicalphenomenon that stimulates the sense of hearing. In
humans, hearing takes place whenever vibrations of frequencies from 15
hertz to about 20,000 hertz reach the inner ear. The hertz (Hz) is a unit of
frequency equaling one vibration or cycle per second. Such vibrations
reach the inner ear when they are transmitted through air. The speed of
sound varies, but at sea level it travels through cool, dry air at about
1,190 km/h (740 mph). The term sound is sometimes restricted to such
airborne vibrational waves. Modern physicists, however, usually extend
the term to include similar vibrations in other gaseous, liquid, or solid
media. Physicists also include vibrations of any frequency in any media,
not just those that would be audible to humans. Sounds of frequencies
above the range of normal human hearing, higher than about 20,000 Hz,
are called ultrasonic.

SOUND
Thisarticledealswith the physics of sound. For the anatomy of the human
and animal hearing mechanism, see Ear. For the architectural science of
designing rooms and buildings for desirable properties of sound
propagation and reception, see Acoustics. For the general properties of
the generation and propagation of vibrational waves, including sound
waves.

SOUND

Ingeneralwavescanbe propagated, or transmitted, transversely or

longitudinally. In both cases, only the energy of wave motion is
propagated through the medium; no portion of the medium itself actually
moves very far. In transverse waves, the material through which the wave
is transmitted vibrates perpendicular to the waves forward movement. As
a simple example, a rope may be tied securely to a post at one end, and
the other end pulled almost taut and then shaken once. A wave will travel
down the rope to the post, and at that point it will be reflected and
returned to the hand. No part of the rope actually moves longitudinally
toward the post, but each successive portion of the rope moves
transversely. This type of wave motion is called a transverse wave.
Similarly, if a rock is thrown into a pool of water, a series of transverse
waves moves out from the point of impact. A cork floating near the point

SOUND

Asoundwave,ontheother hand, is a longitudinal wave. As the energy of

wave motion is propagated outward from the center of disturbance, the
individual air molecules that carry the sound move back and forth, parallel
to the direction of wave motion. Thus, a sound wave is a series of
alternate increases and decreases of air pressure. Each individual
molecule passes the energy on to neighboring molecules, but after the
sound wave has passed, each molecule remains in about the same
location.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Anysimplesound,such as a musical note, may be completely described
by specifying three perceptual characteristics: pitch, loudness (or
intensity), and quality (or timbre). These characteristics correspond
exactly to three physical characteristics: frequency, amplitude, and
harmonic constitution, or waveform, respectively. Noise is a complex
sound, a mixture of many different frequencies or notes not harmonically
related.

FREQUENCY
Soundscanbeproduced at a desired frequency by different methods.
Sirens emit sound by means of an air blast interrupted by a toothed wheel
with 44 teeth. The wheel rotates at 10 revolutions per second to produce
440 interruptions in the air stream every second. Similarly, hitting the A
above middle C on a piano causes a string to vibrate at 440 Hz. The sound
of the speaker and that of the piano string at the same frequency are
different in quality, but correspond closely in pitch. The next higher A on
the piano, the note one octave above, has a frequency of 880 Hz, exactly
twice as high. Similarly, the notes one and two octaves below have
frequencies of 220 and 110 Hz, respectively. Thus, by definition, an octave
is the interval between any two notes whose frequencies are in a two-toone ratio.

AMPLITUDE
Theamplitudeofasound wave is the degree of motion of air molecules
within the wave, which corresponds to the changes in air pressure that
accompany the wave. The greater the amplitude of the wave, the harder
the molecules strike the eardrum and the louder the sound that is
perceived. The amplitude of a sound wave can be expressed in terms of
absolute units by measuring the actual distance of displacement of the air
molecules, the changes in pressure as the wave passes, or the energy
contained in the wave. Ordinary speech, for example, produces sound
energy at the rate of about one hundred-thousandth of a watt. All of these
measurements are extremely difficult to make, however, and the intensity
of sounds is generally expressed by comparing them to a standard sound,
measured in decibel.

INTENSITY
Thedistanceatwhich a sound can be heard depends on its intensity.
Intensity is the average rate of flow of energy per unit area perpendicular
to the direction of propagation, similar to the rate at which a river flows
through a gate in a dam. In the case of spherical sound waves spreading
from a point source, the intensity varies inversely as the square of the
distance, provided there is no loss of energy due to viscosity, heat
conduction, or other absorption effects. Thunder, for example, is four
times as intense at a distance of 1 km (0.6 mi) from the lightning bolt that
caused it as it would be at a distance of 2 km (1.2 mi). In the actual
propagation of sound through the atmosphere, changes in the physical
properties of the air, such as temperature, pressure, and humidity,
produce damping and scattering of the directed sound waves, so that the
inverse-square law generally is not applicable in direct measurements of

QUALITY
IfAabovemiddleCis played on a violin, a piano, and a tuning fork, all at
the same volume, the tones are identical in frequency and amplitude, but
different in quality. Of these three sources, the simplest tone is produced
by the tuning fork; the sound in this case consists almost entirely of
vibrations having frequencies of 440 Hz. Because of the acoustical
properties of the ear and the resonance properties of the ear's vibrating
membrane, however, it is doubtful that a pure tone reaches the inner
hearing mechanism in an unmodified form. The principal component of
the note produced by the piano or violin also has a frequency of 440 Hz,
but these notes also contain components with frequencies that are exact
multiples of 440, called overtones, at 880, 1320, and 1760 Hz, for
example. The exact intensity of these other components, which are called
harmonics, determines the quality, or timbre, of the note.

SPEED OF SOUND
Soundgenerallymoves much faster in liquids and solids than in gases. In
both liquids and solids, density has the same effect as in gases. The speed
of sound also varies directly as the square root of the elasticity of the
medium. Elasticity is the ability of a substance to regain its original shape
and size after being deformed. The speed of sound in water, for example,
is slightly less than 1,525 m/sec (5,000 ft/sec) at ordinary temperatures
almost five times as fast as in air. The speed of sound in copper, which is
more elastic than water, is about 3,350 m/sec (about 11,000 ft/sec) at
ordinary temperatures. In steel, which is even more elastic, sound moves
at a speed of about 4,880 m/sec (about 16,000 ft/sec). Sound is
propagated very efficiently in steel.

SPEED OF SOUND
Soundgenerallymoves much faster in liquids and solids than in gases. In
both liquids and solids, density has the same effect as in gases. The speed
of sound also varies directly as the square root of the elasticity of the
medium. Elasticity is the ability of a substance to regain its original shape
and size after being deformed. The speed of sound in water, for example,
is slightly less than 1,525 m/sec (5,000 ft/sec) at ordinary temperatures
almost five times as fast as in air. The speed of sound in copper, which is
more elastic than water, is about 3,350 m/sec (about 11,000 ft/sec) at
ordinary temperatures. In steel, which is even more elastic, sound moves
at a speed of about 4,880 m/sec (about 16,000 ft/sec). Sound is
propagated very efficiently in steel.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS