PhET
Wave on a String
The sound waves of thunder are made when lightning very quickly heats the air surrounding it, expanding faster than the speed of sound. Learners explore waves through their own movement of string or set waves to constantly oscillate....
California Department of Education
Sound Waves
Resonate with the class. By watching a couple of videos, pupils realize that sound waves require a medium to travel and can break glass. They then listen to a lecture on resonance and work through a lab to calculate the speed of sound...
Curated OER
Typical Conceptual Questions for Physics I - Waves, Electricity, and Magnetism
This wave and electromagnetism assignment is so thorough, it could be used as a unit exam. The first section of it covers wave concepts. The next section addresses static electricity. There is a section that deals with electric circuits....
Curated OER
Wave Practice Problems
Physics scholars list the properties of waves and calculate the speed, wavelength, and frequency of waves. The activity is concise, but covers a variety of wave computational skills. The formatting is neat, but it does have small margins...
Curated OER
Sound Waves Simulation Worksheet
In this sound wave worksheet, students go to http://phet.colorado.edu/new/simulations/sims.php?sim=Sound and run the simulation to complete 28 short answer question.
Curated OER
Speed of Sound in Air
In this speed of sound worksheet, students determine how fast sound travels in air using a tuning fork of known frequency, a graduated cylinder and hollow glass tubing. Students record their data and calculate the wavelength of a tuning...
Bowels Physics
Waves and Sound
Explore how sound travels as waves with a straightforward lesson that explains the basics of waves in relation to sound. The presentation considers sound waves in both open and closed pipes and shows how to calculate wavelength and...
Acoustical Society of America
Wave Basics
Catch the fast wave. Using a computer simulation, pupils experiment with amplitude, frequency, damping, and tension of a string to determine which affects the speed of the wave. Learners record the observations to determine their...
Urbana School District
Sound
Beautiful music doesn't just write itself, but if you ever feel bad about procrastinating, remember that Mozart wrote the overture to Don Giovanni the morning it premiered. Introduce young scientists to the elements of sound including...
Curated OER
Finding Ocean Depth
How to oceanographers measure the sea's depth? Your scientists will step into their shoes in this application instructional activity, first reading about how the speed of sound and a simple formula give scientists a depth estimation....
Exploratorium
Straw Oboe
Trim the end of a straw to construct a vibrating wind instrument. Everyone in your class can make their own during a lesson on sound waves.
Curated OER
Typical Numeric Questions for Physics I - Waves
Physics masters figure out the wavelength of different waves. Looking at a wave graph, they identify different characteristics. Many more problems get them working with both electromagnetic and sound waves. There are a total of 17...
LABScI
Acoustics: The Sound Lab
If the delay between a sound and its echo is less than 1/10th of a second, the human ear can’t distinguish it. Through the use of a Slinky, rubber band guitar, and straws, scholars explore where sound comes from and how it travels. Whole...
Discovery Education
Sonar & Echolocation
A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...
Science 4 Inquiry
Battle of the Waves
Which travels faster, light or sound? Scholars work in groups to simulate the ability for waves to travel through solids, liquids, gases, and through a vacuum. Then, they learn about the properties of a mystery wave and must determine...
Curated OER
Sound
In this sound worksheet, students understand how sound is created and how the human ear "hears." Students compare the frequency, amplitude, and speed of sound. Then students complete 10 matching, 7 fill in the blank, and 11 short answer...
Curated OER
Sound
In this sound learning exercise, students read about sound waves, how they are graphed, what frequency is and how it's related to pitch and the speed of sound. Students solve 8 sections of problems including matching terms related to...
Curated OER
The Physics of Sound: How We Produce Sounds
First graders construct a KWL chart on sound. In this physics lesson, 1st graders describe different ways to produce sound. They explain how sound waves propagate.
Curated OER
Let's Measure the Speed of Sound
Third graders measure the speed of sound using scientific investigative techniques.
Curated OER
Waves: Sound and Light
A few definitions related to waves open this slide show. Note that the information only covers light waves even though the title mentions sound. Correct the title before using this resource. Another mention is a set of photos of a class...
Physics Classroom
Waves - Case Studies
What can your class tell about a wave just by looking at it? Using a simulation, physics pupils work through a series of case studies to determine the effects of speed, frequency, and density on waves. Part of a larger playlist on waves...
Curated OER
Using Waves on the Job!
A colorful and comprehensive PowerPoint highlights this activity on waves. Junior geophysicists pretend that they are hired to analyze seismic waves. A worksheet is provided to go along with an online article about how compact discs work...
Curated OER
Drill: Waves and Sound
In this waves and sound instructional activity, students answer 23 questions about standing waves, wave reflections, wavelength and frequency and nodes and antinodes.
Curated OER
Telecommunication
Each of these slides has notes for a teacher to support the activities that are planned for the students. The slides give details and facts about sound waves. Although this slide show delivers useful information about the sound waves,...