Sounds and Vibrations

What sounds and vibrations you hear everyday?

You live in a world filled with full of sounds. Following are some of the sounds and vibrations that we hear in our day to day life.

Bang of a door
Beat of a drum
Blast of an explosion
Bubbling of water
Buzz of a bee
Buzz of a saw
Chime of a clock

Chug of an engine
Clink of a coin
Rattling of dishes
Ring of a telephone
Rustling of leaves
Shuffling of feet
Toot of a horn

Information from different sounds

Different sounds can give us different information.

Sound	Information
People whistle or sing	They are happy
A baby cries	It is frightened, hungry or uncomfortable
People groan	They are in pain
Ring of a telephone	Someone wants to speak to us
Ring of a doorbell	There is a visitor for us
Sirens of fire engines, police cars and ambulances	Warn people to get out of the way

How are sounds made?

Sounds are made when objects vibrate.

What is meant by vibrating?

Vibrating means moving backwards or forwards.

E.g. –

1) If you hold one end of a ruler on the table and twang the other end, you can see or feel the ruler moving backwards and forwards (or vibrating) and hear a sound.

2) If you put some small buttons on a table and bang it with your fist, the buttons will jump up and down, because the table vibrates when you bang it.

What makes sound?

Everything that vibrates makes a sound.

How can we hear sounds?

When an object vibrates, the vibration makes the air around vibrate. The air vibrations enter your ear which you hear as sound.

Can we see the vibrations?

Yes we can, but not always.

Are all the objects that make sounds vibrating?

If something is making a sound, some part of it is always vibrating.

Human sounds and vibrations

People make many sounds with their voices.

Where does your voice come from?

Your voice comes from your throat.

How can you feel your throat vibrating?

Put one hand gently on the front of your throat and hum. You can feel your throat vibrating.

How do people make sounds?

This happens under the human respiratory system. Following parts of the human respiratory system are involved with this.

Mouth
Throat (including voice box and vocal cords)
Windpipe
Lungs

Throat with Voice Box and Vocal Cords together

Windpipe Diagram

Lungs

a) There is a voice box inside your throat.

b) This voice box includes folds of muscle called vocal cords.

c) When you speak or sing air from your lungs pass over your local cords.

d) Then the vocal cords vibrate and make sounds.

Voice Box and Vocal Cords

How can people change the sounds they make?

People can make the vocal cords vibrate faster or slower and change the sounds.

How can people talk?

People change the position of their mouth and tongue to shape the voice sounds into words, so then they can talk.

Click here to learn more lessons on sound.

Written By : K8School