What a Sound Idea

Students explore sound. In this "sound" science lesson, students define sound and explain how sound travels. Students experiment with paper cups and string to conclude how sound travels. Students research a chosen aspect of sound with a...

Dive into the mystery of sound waves!  Scholars brainstorm questions about how sound travels and why different items make different sounds. They then conduct experiments to answer their questions.

We know the speed of light, but can we measure the speed of dark? During the lesson, scholars perform gedanken, or thought experiments related to the speed of sound and the speed of light. 

Building on the previous lesson, scholars use Slinkies to create standing waves. They graph waves on a calculator and then apply their knowledge to both sound and light waves. This is the fourth in a series of nine lessons.

What would our world look like if we could see sound waves? The simulation shows sound waves in a variety of applications. Scholars adjust the frequency, volume, and location of the listener to understand how to determine the speed,...

Students discuss physical places in which had good or bad acoustics. After reading an article, they discover the relationship between the physics of sound and concert hall acoustics. They calculate the speed of sound and compare their...

What's the most common type of headache? How do headaches occur? Watch an informative video that details primary and secondary headaches including migraines, cluster headaches, and tension headaches.

Sound waves travel pretty quickly, but humans can travel faster. Follow along with this short animated video as it investigates the physics behind the breaking of the sound barrier and the sonic booms that are created as a result.

Students demonstrate the relationship between a sound and its frequency. In this sound and frequency lesson, students use an old tennis racket and nylon fishing line to create a guitar. Students observe the pitch and frequency.

Students discover that all movement produces sound waves but not all sounds can be heard with the human ear. They experiment with a variety of substances to see which are audible and which are inaudible.