Hey there! I’m Andrew, and this is my friend Molly. Today, we’re going to learn about something super cool that we hear every day: sound!
Sounds are everywhere! They come from things called sound sources. A sound source is anything that makes a noise. But did you know that sound is actually a type of energy? Yes, that’s right! When something makes a sound, it’s using energy. If it’s not using energy, it won’t make any sound. For example, if a fan is turned off, it doesn’t make any noise. But when we turn it on, it uses energy, and we can hear it whirring away!
There are sound sources all around us, like the humming of a refrigerator or the honking of a car horn. Some sounds are loud, and some are quiet. You can find sounds in your house, on the street, and even in the sky!
Sound is made when things move back and forth really fast. We call this movement vibrations. When a car honks its horn, it makes the air around it vibrate. These vibrations travel through the air until they reach our ears. Inside our ears, we have something called an eardrum, which also vibrates and tells our brain that we’re hearing a sound.
Musical instruments like guitars use vibrations to make music. When you pluck a guitar string, it vibrates and creates sound. Speakers and headphones work in a similar way. They have parts that move back and forth to create vibrations, which we hear as sound.
Here’s a fun experiment you can try with an adult’s help: Take a glass and fill it with some water. Wet your finger and rub it around the rim of the glass. You’ll hear a sound as the glass vibrates!
Different objects make different sounds. Hard objects, like metal or glass, vibrate well and make loud sounds. Soft objects, like paper towels, don’t vibrate much and make quieter sounds. Some things, like the rubber on the bottom of your shoes, are made to absorb vibrations, so they don’t make much noise at all.
Sounds help us communicate and understand the world around us. A doorbell tells us someone is at the door. A phone rings to let us know someone is calling. School bells and whistles in the gym give us important signals. Emergency vehicles like police cars and fire trucks use loud alarms to warn other cars to move aside.
The world is full of amazing sounds and sights. By listening and looking carefully, we can learn so much!
That’s all for now! Keep exploring the sounds around you, and we’ll see you next time!
Sound Scavenger Hunt: Go on a sound scavenger hunt around your home or school. Listen carefully and try to find at least five different sound sources. Write down what you hear and where the sound is coming from. Are the sounds loud or quiet? Discuss with a friend or family member why you think each sound is loud or quiet.
Vibration Experiment: With the help of an adult, take a rubber band and stretch it between your fingers. Pluck the rubber band and watch it vibrate. Can you feel the vibrations with your fingers? Try using rubber bands of different thicknesses and observe how the sound changes. Which rubber band makes a higher sound and which makes a lower sound?
Sound Storytime: Create a short story about a day in the life of a sound detective. Imagine you are a detective who solves mysteries by listening to sounds. What sounds do you hear during your day? How do these sounds help you solve the mystery? Share your story with your class or family and ask them what sounds they would include in their own sound detective story.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
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[Music]
Hey everybody, I’m Andrew, and this is Molly. Together, we’re going to be explaining the type of science that affects you every day.
[Music]
Oh, hey! Molly and I were just listening to some sounds. Where do sounds come from? That’s a good question, Molly. Let’s explore!
[Music]
Sounds are all around us, and they come from sound sources. A sound source is anything that makes sound. Sound is a type of energy; therefore, anything that makes sound is also using energy. If it’s not using energy, it’s not making sound. For example, this device right now is off; it’s not using any energy, so if we listen to it, it doesn’t make any sound. If I turn it on and it starts using energy, then we should be able to hear it. Now that the fan is using energy, we can hear it making sound.
We can find sources of sound around the house, like this refrigerator. If you listen, you can hear it humming. Some sounds are loud, and some sounds are really quiet. Sources of sound are everywhere: in our house, in the streets, around town, and even in the sky.
[Music]
Now let’s see if you can identify these common sounds from around the house and the neighborhood.
[Music]
Okay!
[Music]
So, Molly, what are some of the things that we’ve learned today?
I learned that sound is energy and it comes from sound sources. Sound sources are all around us all the time.
[Music]
That’s right! Good job! Now, if you’ll excuse us, Molly and I have some tunes to listen to.
[Music]
I love that part! Me too! But what makes this sound? That’s a good question. What is sound? I’m Andrew, and this is Molly. Today, we’re going to learn all about what sound really is.
[Music]
Sound is a type of energy. Sound is caused by moving things back and forth very rapidly; we call these vibrations. When a source of sound, like a car, honks its horn, the horn vibrates the air around it. These vibrations continue through the air until they reach our ears. Inside our ears is the eardrum, which then also vibrates, telling our brain we’re hearing noise.
Musical instruments like guitars take advantage of these vibrations. Watch as this guitar string vibrates rapidly to make noise.
[Music]
We mentioned that sound is vibrations, and sound coming out of a speaker or your headphones is no different. You can see on this speaker we have a cone here. Now, what this cone is going to do when electricity is run through it is bump back and forth and cause vibrations to come out and make sound for us. You can see here that I’ve laid the speaker on its back, so the cones are pointing up. Now I’m going to hold this tray of rice just above the speaker. I’m not going to touch the speaker because I want to show that the vibrations are going to travel through the air and vibrate our rice.
[Music]
For the most part, the harder an object is, the better it’s going to vibrate. So we have a couple of objects here, and I’m going to be using this metal pencil to bang against them. Let’s see what kind of sounds we can get out of them. The first one is a metal water bottle. Now, metal is a very hard substance, so we should get a pretty good sound.
[Applause]
A lot of vibrations! I can actually feel the vibrations in my hand. Now, paper towels are very soft, so we really shouldn’t get a big sound from this one. Not much. Glass is really hard, so we should get a good sound from this. Now I’m going to be careful as I do this. We do get a pretty good sound!
Some things are actually made to absorb vibrations. The rubber on the bottom of your shoe is made to absorb the vibrations from you stepping on the ground all day long to make it softer on your feet. So it should, just like it absorbs those vibrations from the ground, absorb the sound from the pen. Not a whole lot of sound.
Here’s a neat trick you can do with your parents’ permission: Get a glass like this and put some water in it. Get your finger wet and then rub it around the outside of the glass.
[Music]
As you rub it, you should cause the glass to vibrate, and you’ll hear a big noise.
[Music]
So, Molly, we’ve talked a lot about sound. Sound is energy, and that energy causes vibrations.
You’re right! And those vibrations can travel through the air until they reach our eardrums, where we hear them as noise. That’s how we can enjoy listening to music and watching movies and all kinds of other fun stuff.
Well, that pretty much wraps it up for sound. Go check out some sounds around your house! If you remember from earlier lessons, sound is a type of energy that is made when objects vibrate. When these vibrations reach our ears, we hear them as noise.
A doorbell sound lets us know the guests have arrived. Someone’s at the door!
Oh, hey, Molly!
Hello!
People learn how to use sound to communicate important information. A cell phone rings to let you know that somebody’s calling. A school bell calls students to a lesson. A coach’s whistle in the gym tells them to start exercising. All emergency service cars have sound alarms: police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. When these cars race to the rescue, the alarm sound tells other cars to get out of the way.
The world around us is full of sounds and light. Listen and look carefully, and you might learn something interesting.
That’s it for this time! We’ll see you guys next time!
See you next time!
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
