SOUNDS GOOD!
From musical boxes
to iPods
Space
Walk
Aug 2005
Stephen
Robinson
outside
Discovery
NASA picture
2
Can he call to those inside the
space ship as he works?
NASA picture
3
Connected to the space ship by
a line
Why?
NASA picture
4
Let’s play
some
games!
5
Sound dance
Sound moves this way
steps
The bunches move along the line.
 The children do not move along!

6
Sound travels to your ear
Sound
The air vibrates
but does not travel from
the alarm to the ear.
7
Large ears to collect sound


Our ears are
on the side
of our
heads.
We can play
a game to
find out why.
8
?
 Why
does
Mittens
look
unhappy?
9
Whales sing
to each
other.
 Sound
travels
through
water.
10
11
Bush telephone
game

Sound travels through the string
12
Telephones -
Are like a sound system
The electrical
signal is
amplified
A microphone
changes sound to an
electrical signal.
A loudspeaker
changes the electrical
signal to sound.
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Telephones - The
message travels through miles
of wires as an electrical signal.
loudspeaker
microphone
electrical signal
14
Mobile phones use radio
Sound - electrical signal - radio signal - electrical signal - sound
In one phone the
sound is changed
into an electrical
signal then into
a radio signal.
Mobile
phone
beacons
Radio signal
In the second
phone the radio
signal is changed
into an electrical
signal then into
sound.
Sound - electrical signal - radio signal - electrical signal - sound
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What is this?
What
sound
does she
make?
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What are these?

What
sound do
they
make?
17
What sound does this make?
 How
does it
make the
sound?
18
Bells

What
sounds will
they make?
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Straw oboes
 blow
 Listen
as the straw is snipped.
20
Size matters!
 Large
things make
___________ sounds
 Small
things make
___________ sounds
21
New words:


High pitch =
high frequency
Low pitch =
low frequency
22
Size matters!
23
What else changes sounds?
 How
do you
tune a violin?
 Let
us try to
make a string
instrument.
24
What have we learned?






Vibrating objects make sounds
Sound needs a medium through which to travel
– air, water, string - - The medium vibrates but does not travel with the
sound
Large vibrations make loud sounds
- small vibrations make quiet sounds
Large objects make low frequency sounds
- small objects make high frequency sounds
In strings the frequency of the sound depends
on the length, thickness, and tension.
25
Can you spot the baby?
Sound
has
lots
of
uses
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Ultrasound is very, very high
frequency sound.
It is used to see inside people
- to see
 babies
before
they are born
 if a heart is
working well
 blood flow
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Knowledge about sound helps 
Musical instrument design
 and
playing them
Sailors find how deep the water is
 Building design

 so
we hear sounds clearly in meetings
 so sound does not travel through walls

Sound systems for everyone
 radio
- CD players
 mobile
phones - iPods
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Physics is
everywhere

From kitten’s ears to mobile phones
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