In this illustrated physics tutorial, students learn about sound wave behaviors and apply them to the reflection, diffraction, and refraction of sound waves.

By the end of this section, you will be able to define antinode, node, fundamental, overtones, and harmonics; identify instances of sound interference in everyday situations; describe how sound interference occurring inside open and...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students explore how mechanical waves are transmitted., and find out what is meant by interference and intensity of sound waves.

This tutorial looks at the behavior of sound waves, specifically focusing upon sound interference and beats. Learn more about it and then take a short quiz to check your understanding.

A discussion of refraction and its application to sound waves. Using analogies, graphics and real-life applications, this page and those that accompany it explain why and when sound waves bend.

Just how loud does a sound have to be for us to hear it? And how loud is too loud for our ears? Learn to measure levels of sound in this project, and discover the amazing auditory range your ears can detect in the noisy world around you.

Discusses the physics of how sound travels. Includes a video of a volcanic eruption that demonstrates the speed of sound waves.

This physics tutorial invites users to discover how sound is a pressure wave. Be sure to view the animation.

Through illustrated diagrams and interactive practice examples, students explore the physics of sound in open-end air column musical instruments.

Through illustrated diagrams and interactive practice examples, students explore the physics of sound in closed-end air column musical instruments.

The focus of this physics tutorial is on the application of mathematical relationships and standing wave concepts to musical instruments in three general categories of instruments: instruments with vibrating strings, open-end air column...

Students discover wave interference, the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling along the same medium.

The concept of pitch and frequency is covered in this tutorial. Learn what frequency and pitch are, the difference between infra sound and ultrasonic frequencies, and how pitch is related to the frequency of a sound.

Information about the interference of sound and its causes. Well-illustrated and good explanations of the concepts; part of a large hyper-textbook on various physics concepts.

For musical instruments and other objects that vibrate in regular and periodic fashion, the harmonic frequencies are related to each other by simple whole number ratios. Students learn why these whole number ratios exist for a musical...

This hypertext physics course tutorial on nonfocusing surfaces relates various design principles to good auditorium design. Illustrated.

Explains what happens to a wave when it hits a fixed end or a free end.

This site's entry is a discussion of diffraction and its application to acoustics and acoustical design. Exceptional illustrations and great discussion throughout.

At this site from the Nobel e-Museum, you can read about the scientific work of Lord Rayleigh (1842-1919 CE). This article includes information on his education and experiments with light and sound waves.

This physics tutorial explores forced vibration. Includes links to natural frequency, standing wave patterns and fundamental frequency and harmonics.

This hypertext physics course page illustrates and explains the Doppler effect. Users perform practice calculations for frequency shifts using the Doppler equation.

Here is described a simple process to 'put a voice on a sunbeam' and transmit it over a distance. It is a fascinating example of amplitude modulation of light using sound vibrations. It then describes how the modulated light is detected...

This site from Architectural Acoustics and Lighting provides a discussion of various factors affecting the acoustics of a given room. Room dimensions, the wavelength of the sound wave, the physical characteristics of the walls, the...