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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Unit 4P.1: Sound
• How sounds are made? • Loudness and pitch • Hearing sound •
Noise • Traveling of sound • Echo
Science skills:
• Predicting • Observing and
classifying
UBy the end of this unit you should: • Know that sound is a
vibration. • Know that sound can vary in loudness and in pitch. •
Know that we hear sounds that travel to our ears,
and we are not able to hear all the sounds. • Know the
importance of having two ears. • Know what noise is. • Know that
sounds can travel through solids, liquids
and gases. • Know what an Echo is.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
How sounds are made? What kind of sounds have you heard today?
If you live in town, you may have heard cars and buses. Maybe you
heard the call to pray for Fajr?
A sound is made when an object vibrates. When something vibrates
it moves forward and backward. Usually you can not see an object
vibrating when it makes a sound because it is moving so
quickly.
• You can see and feel the vibration from a tuning fork when it
makes a sound.
Sound is made when an object vibrates
During Vibration an object moves forward and backward very
quickly.
4.15.2
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
• Tap a tuning fork on the side of a desk and then place the tip
of the tuning fork in a container of water. The vibrations from the
tuning fork will make some of the water splash out of the
container.
• You can see the vibrations if you put rice on a duff
and then hit the skin lightly. You’ll see the
rice grains jump around.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Key words: • Sound • Vibration • Tuning
fork
Key ideas: • Sound is a vibration • Vibration is when an
object
moves forward and backward very quickly.
Key questions:
1. Aisha was playing a duff. Explain how the sound is made.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
2. What is vibration? ……………………………………………………………………………………………
3. What happens to a guitar string when you pluck it?
……………………………………………………………………………………………
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Loudness and pitch
Loudness Changing the loudness of a sound is like turning the
volume button on the television up or down. You do not change the
type of sound, just whether you can hear it louder or not. You can
make the sound of a drum louder by striking it harder. In that way,
you give it more energy and the vibrations are bigger. If you
strike it very gently, you get small vibrations and a very quiet
sound.
The loudness of a sound is how loud or soft it is
4.15.1
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Sounds of different loudness can be produced when this drum is
hit: a) gently or b) hard.
Sounds of different loudness make waves of different
heights.
• Sounds can be soft or loud depending how close to the sources
of the sounds you are.
Low loudness (Soft sound)
High loudness (Loud sound)
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Sounds are different depending on how close or far you
are from the source of the sounds.
Loudness is measured in decibels (dB). The softest sound anyone
can hear is 0 dB.
O dB - Falling snow
3O dB - A soft whisper
5O dB - Quiet talk
7O dB - Television
10O dB - Subway train entering a station
11O dB – Chain saw
12O dB – Loud rock music
14O dB – Jet engine at takeoff from 30m (100ft)
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Pitch
A big drum makes a big, deep sound we say the sound is a low
pitch. A small drum makes a much deeper sound we say the sound is a
high pitch. It does not matter how hard you hit it.
A high sound has a high pitch and a low sound has a low
pitch.
• A tight drum skin gives a high pitch sound than a loose drum
skin.
Pitch: How high or low a sound is.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
The thick strings on a guitar make a low pitched sound, but the
thin strings make a high pitched sound.
The pitch of a sound depends on how quickly the vibrations move
through the air. • A small instrument vibrates very quickly (a
small drum or
a thin guitar string) it has a high pitch. • A big instrument
vibrates very slowly and gives a low
note. It has a low pitch.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Xylophones and chime bars make a sound when they are hit.
• High pitched sounds are made from the shorter bars on a
xylophone or shorter pan pipes. • Low pitched sounds come from the
long bars of a xylophone and pan pipes. Long objects and
instruments vibrate to make low pitched sounds.
Every sound has both pitch and loudness. For example a mouse
that squeaks, has a high pitch and a low loudness. An elephant
makes a sound that has a low pitch but a high loudness.
Pan pipes
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Project: Using different sizes of elastics bands, try to
investigate the relationship between the size
and the pitch. Vary the length by moving the
pencils and pluck the rubber bands.
Key words:
Loudness Volume Pitch Tight
Key ideas: • Sounds have both pitch and volume. • The volume of
Sounds can be low or
loud. • The pitch of a sound depends on the
instrument size.
Key questions
1. What is the difference between volume and pitch?
……………………………………………………………………
2. Which of these recorders would you expect to make the lowest
sound (pitch) and why?
………………………………………………………………………..
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
3. Aisha knows that if she wants to change the pitch of the drum
she needs to tightened or loosen the drum skin. What would happen
to the pitch of the sound if she tightened the skin?
………………………………………………………………………..
4.Arrange each set of instruments in order of pitch by writing
1, 2 or 3 in the box below each picture (1 making he lowest-
pitched sound)
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Hearing sound We hear sounds when the vibrations travel from the
objects to our ears.
Do you know how we hear the sounds? Sounds go into our ears and
make our eardrums move. This tells our brain that we have heard a
sound. It is important never to poke things in our ears, because we
can hurt them easily.
Our ears tell us where the sound is coming from. If a friend who
is standing to your left calls your name. The sound reaches your
left ear first then it reaches your right ear. The brain can tell
you that the sound is louder to the left ear and it tells your head
to turn left to see
4.15.3, 4.15.4
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
your friend. Having two ears helps you know where the sound is
coming from, even if you were blindfolded. Sounds we cannot
hear
• Many animals have better hearing than we do. Dogs have very
sensitive hearing; they can hear higher pitched sounds than we
can.
• The dog owners have a whistle that only dogs can hear the
sound from it.
• Elephants can hear lower pitched sounds that we can not
hear.
Having two ears helps us to tell where the sound is coming
from.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
There are some sounds that are either too high or too low for us
to hear.
Key words:
• Hearing • Eardrum • Ears • Whistle
Key ideas: • We hear sounds when they travel to
our ears. • Having two ears helps us tell where
sound is coming from. • There are sounds that are either too
low or too high for us to hear.
Key questions:
1. How do we hear sounds?
……………………………………………………………………………
2. Why must we never poke things in our ears?
……………………………………………………………………………
3. Can we hear all the sounds? Explain!
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
4. Why do humans have two ears and why are they at
the side of head?
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Noise
Noise can almost be any sort of sound, but the word is
especially applied to unwanted or unpleasant sounds.
• The sounds of traffic and construction work in the city are
noise. The louder they are, the worse the noise.
• Even your favorite music can be noise if it distracts you
while you are studying.
• Sound counts as noise if it is so loud that it becomes painful
to hear, or even damages your sense of hearing.
4.15.5
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
In order to protect their ears from noise, workers wear earmuffs
when they are working with loud machinery. Sound travels through
materials better than others, so the material for earmuffs is
chosen carefully to keep the sound out.
Very loud sounds can be dangerous as they can damage your
ears.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Activity Which material would be the best to make earmuffs?
• Some children decide to investigate which material would be
the best for making earmuffs to stop sound reaching their ears.
• The children planned an investigation for testing five
different materials as earmuffs: cotton wool, paper towel, carpet,
plastic bag and bubble wrap.
• They made a pair of earmuffs using a hair band and rings of
cardboard.
• The different materials could be stuck to the cardboard rings.
• The children chose one person to wear the earmuffs. • This person
had to walk away from a buzzer until she
could not hear the noise any longer. The distance between the
person and the buzzer was measured.
• The children did this test using each different material in
the earmuffs.
• Which materials made the best earmuffs?
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Key words:
• Noise
• Damage
• Earmuffs
Key ideas: • Noise is an unpleasant or very loud
sound. • Loud sounds can damage the ears. • People who work
where there is a
lot of noise wear earmuffs to protect their ears.
Key questions:
1. Cross out the wrong word in each sentence. • (Very
loud/quiet) sounds can be dangerous as
they can damage your ears.
• Noise is an (pleasant /unpleasant) sound
2. How can hearing be damaged?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
3. Roza and her group carried out an investigation into which
material is best for sound proofing. They wrapped a ticking clock
in a series of different materials in turn, and placed it inside a
box each time. Here are their results.
Material Volume of sound recorded by computer sensor
Paper 6 Cotton wool 2
Aluminium foil 7 Bubble wrap 1
a. Which material was the best for sound proofing? How do you
know?
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
b. Which material was the worst for sound proofing? How do you
know? ……………………………………………………………………………
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
How sound travels Sound travels in waves Sound moves through the
air in waves. These waves are invisible, but we can see how they
might look with a special instrument called an oscilloscope.
We normally think of sound waves as traveling through the air,
but the truth is that they can travel through solids, liquids and
gases. Sound waves travel by making particles vibrate.
• Sound travels though air When somebody talks, the vibration
travels through air to reach your ears.
4.15.7
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
The vibrations make the air around the instrument vibrate
too. The vibrations made by the guitar strings, drum skin
and triangle make the air vibrates.
When these vibrations reach our ears, we hear them as
sounds.
Ask you teacher to put a candle on and place
the flame near a speaker – as you turn the
volume up you’ll see the flame vibrate more! If
you put it so loud the flame can go out!
• Sound travels though water Sound travels in water, next time
you go to swimming try to talk to your friend under the water.
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
• Sound travels though solids Sounds travel well through solids.
If you are sitting at a table, place your ear on the table. Stretch
out your arm and tap the table very gently with one finger. Even
though this tap is a very quiet sound, you can hear it clearly as
the sound vibrations travel through the table and enter your
ear.
Activity: Making a String Telephone Carry out investigations to
find the answers to the following questions:
• Which material is the best for making a telephone wire? (thick
or thin string? Plastic or fabric?)
• Which is the best container to use for a telephone? (tins, or
plastic cups?)
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Question: (What are you testing?)
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
Procedure: (Describe the experiment)
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
Materials: (List what you used)
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
Observations: (Record what happened)
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Results: (Make your own data table) Conclusions: (Use your
observations and results to describe what you learned)
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
• Sound Insulation Sound insulation is the prevention of
transmission of sound. The actual process of sound insulation
involves inserting some type of insulating material into the walls,
as well as above the ceiling and below the floor. In some cases,
this involves the use of rolls of fiberglass insulation or
introducing foam insulation into the open spaces.
2T(1) 2T Wall insulation 2T(2) 2T Insulation under floors. 2T(3)
2T Partition insulation. 2T(4) 2T Roof insulation. 2T(5) 2T Ceiling
insulation.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-fiberglass.htm�http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-foam-insulation.htm�
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Key words: • Waves • Travel • Solid • Liquid • Gas • Sound
Key ideas:
• Sounds travel through solids, liquids and gases.
• Some materials muffle or stop sound from travelling are called
sound insulators.
Key questions:
1. What can sound travel through?
…………………………………………………………………………
2. Is there sound on the moon? Explain?
…………………………………………………………………………
3. In which of the following does sound travel fastest? a) Solid
b) Liquid c) Gas
Explain your answer?
…………………………………………………………………………
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Echo Did you throw a rubber ball on a brick wall and it bounced
back? Sound bounces too, sound that bounces off something before
reaching a listener is called echo. When you are in Villagio next,
face upwards and talk loudly outside Go sports! You hear an
excellent ECHO!
The sound that travels directly reaches the listener first then
the echo is heard; that is because the sound that travels directly
has less distance to travel and takes less time to travel to our
ears. Sailors can use echoes to find out the depth of the sea
Echo: A sound that bounces off a surface
4.15.6
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
ULet's measure: Use a ruler and see for yourself. Have two
students standing one facing each other while talking; then ask one
of the students to move for some distances and measure the distance
for each move. You should record the final distance where one of
them could not hear the other.
The distance is ………………………. Do the same steps for this activity,
but ask one student to stand in front of the wall while talking and
to move for a certain distance until an echo will be heard. Don't
forget to measure the distance every time.
The distance is ………………………. The longer the distance the sound
needs to travel; the more time it needs to reach your ears.
Do you know bats use echoes
to ‘see’ in the dark. It is called Echolocation!
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Physical processes
Grade4, Unit 4P.1: Sound
Key words: • Echo • Bounces
off • Travel
Key ideas: • When sound bounces off a surface
we have echo.
Key questions:
1. Mohamad was under a bridge and he shouted his name and then
heard his name echo back. Explain how the echo worked.
……………………………………………………………………………….
2. Give one situation where an echo is useful:
……………………………………………………………………………….
Project: Design an experiment to explain why the sound that
travels directly reaches the listener first then the echo is
heard.