Sound
Rossing, TD, 2002, The Science of Sound, 3rd edn, Addison Wesley Longman, Massachusetts.
Audiovisual Resources
It is recommended that teachers should view any video before purchase.
Marcom Projects: History of Sound Recording, Physics of Music, Sound in the Studio
- Excursion to Alfred Brash Sound House, Victorian Arts Centre, St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3000.
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Some of the documents below were written for the previous course, but they may contain still relevant material.
- Speed of Sound Prac 1
- This document contains a student handout outlining a prac to determine the speed of sound in air using a starter's pistol (29k - Word 2000).
- Speed of Sound Prac 2
- This document contains a student handout outlining a prac to determine the speed of sound in air using resonance in a tube closed at one end (37k - Word 2000).
- Speed of Sound Prac 3
- This document contains a student handout outlining a prac to determine the speed of sound in air using standing waves set up in a sound tube (38k - Word 2000).
- Diffraction Waves
- A work sheet for observing diffraction with the ripple tank - can be used as part of sound practical activities (15k - RTF).
- CRO Speed of Sound Prac
- This speed of sound prac uses a dual trace CRO and allows measurement of the time interval betwen pulses arriving at two microphones a couple of metres apart.(130k - Word 97/2000).
Some of the documents below were written for the previous course, but they may contain still relevant material.
- Sound Assessment Task
- A plan for conducting the sound practical work as part of the unit 4 school assessed coursework (292k - RTF).
- Sound Summary
- A set of questions forming the assessment for the sound summary report as part of the unit 4 school assessed coursework (450k - RTF).
- Summary Report on Practical Activities in Sound
- Summary report of sound practical activities. SAC document used in 2000. (43k - Word 97/2000).
- Another Summary Report on Practical Activities in Sound
- Summary report of sound practical activities linked to the first three Speed of Sound Pracs above. (56k - Word 97/2000).
- Test in Sound
- Basic Unit 4 Sound Test. It consists of 34 mostly multiple choice questions. Answers are at the end. (50k - Word 97/2000).
Useful Websites
A comprehensive resource for the NSW physics course. The page opens with a very effective animation showing the phase change at an open end from a pressure point of view.
Test your own hearing. Detailed instructions.
Decibels. Uses "P" for Power and 'p" for pressure, but not "I" for intensity so it could be confusing for some students, nevertheless a very thorough website. It also introduces "sones".
Microphone handbook No 1
Microphone handbook No 2
The Soundry. This is an interactive and educational web site about sound. Covering everything from the most basic concepts of what sound actually is to the specifics of how humans perceive it, the Soundry aims to promote enthusiasm and knowledge of sound. The site was created by US high school students as a ThinkQuest contest entry.
There are an increasing number of applets being developed around the world. Some of the developers have written quite a large number across many fields of physics and science in general. Under the “Links” area of this website there is a section for applets where you can select one of the web sites of these developers to see the range that they have produced.
Listed below are the applets from these developers for this particular Area of Study. Each has a description to give you some idea of its usefulness and relevance. The first name is the developer, the second is the category or section within their site and the third is the applet’s title.
Please read the descriptions below, and then go to the Links section. There are additional websites on the next page.
- Walter Fendt/Oscillations and Waves/Forced Oscillations (Resonance)
- This applet features a mass on the end of a spring, but with an oscillating driving force at the top of the spring. You can vary the spring constant, the size of the attached mass, the attenuation factor and the frequency of the driving force. You can also show the elongation of the driving force and the mass at the bottom over time. The other graphs on phase, etc. are too complicated for Year 12’s. The application has limited use to Sound, but if the attenuation is set to zero, and a few frequencies are chosen carefully then the effect can be dramatic.
- Walter Fendt/Oscillations and Waves/Standing Longitudinal Waves
- This applet shows moving air particles in a column forming standing waves. You have the choice of both ends open, one end open or both ends closed. You can also show the funadamental and overtones up to the 5th. The length of the tube can be varied, and the wavelength and frequency are also displayed. Unfortunately the column has the letters A, N under the positions of the displacement antinodes and nodes, and the applet also shows variation from the displacement point of view, which could be potentially confusing. It is possible to show the air particles on the screen without showing the nodal pattern.
- Walter Fendt/Oscillations and Waves /Reflection and Refraction of waves (Huygen’s principle)
- The applet very effectively describes reflection and refraction of waves. It features several stages. 1st a straight wave front approaches a boundary at an angle, 2nd as the wave front progressively hits dots on the boundary, circular waves are created on both sides of the boundary, 3rd A repeat of stage 2, but with a line connecting the fronts of reflecting circular waves, and same for the refracting waves, 4th A repeat of stage 3, but with an overlay of the incident, reflected and refracted rays, showing the various wavefronts at right angles to the direction of their ray, 5th this is followed by a series of incident wave fronts. The indices of refraction can be changed, as well as the angle of incidence. There is a text box to explain each stage. Total Internal Reflection can also be demonstrated. A most impressive applet.
- Walter Fendt/Oscillations and Waves /Interference of Two Circular Waves
- This applet shows the nodal and antinodal lines formed by the circular waves from two point sources. You are able to vary the spacing between the sources and the wavelength. You are also able to move a point around the interference pattern and read off the path difference. Slow motion and pause/resume options are also available.
Street Mozart. Search for title in Youtube: A video of a roller skater rolling between two rows of filled bottles, gently hitting them to produce a tune by Mozart.
Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Search for title in Youtube: Three different videos of the collapse are available.
Ruben's Tube. Search for title in Youtube, several available: Standing wave of flaming gas jets, some play music through the tube as well, but in such cases the flames are just a visual volume indicator. None of the videos show the pressure antinodes at the closed ends as they don't have holes there.
Chladni Plate. Search for title in Youtube: Several Chladni figures produced by a bow on a square steel plate.
Effect of baffle board. An effective demo, once seen is easily copied at school.
Longitudinal wave applet with many aspect to be varied.
Standing Waves This Visual Basic program simulates the standing wave that results when two waves, travelling in opposite directions, superimpose. It shows both component waves and the resultant standing wave (288k - zip file that expands to 2 files which need to be located in the same directory).
Wave Interference Students use a Java Applet to observe interference of waves from 2 point sources, measure path differences, investigate the effect of changing distance between slits and wavelength, and find mathematical rules for the path difference along nodal and anti-nodal lines. HINT:- make sure that your school network can run the applet before giving it to your class (258k - Word 97/2000).
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