I also never knew about the vocab word amplitude.
One time when I went to a concert there were so many people shouting and screaming that even when I covered my ears the sound waves still came through. I wonder if that is why when you push your ears down (tight enough so you can't hear) the hair gets smushed so they don't receive as many sound waves as they normally would when you're not covering your ears. I found that very interesting and a little gross, but sometimes science is gross. Caplin's class, that is) we are learning about sound and sound energy-but we haven't come across anything about the hairs in your ears-I never really thought there were tiny hair cells in my ear and that's why I can hear. What an excellent video- I especially liked it because it gave you a wonderful visual of what sound really is-considering the fact that in science in our class (Mrs. Lowering the volume and limiting the amount of time spent listening to music on headphones is the best way to protect your hearing. Over time, repeated exposure to loud sounds, including music, can permanently damage these delicate hair cells and lead to permanent hearing loss. These hairs are responsible for receiving sound waves and sending sound information to the brain. Over time, loud noises can damage fragile hair cells in the inner ear. Many young people assume the maximum volume on an iPod is safe, but in some instances, listening to an MP3 player at maximum volume is just as loud as a chainsaw or rock concert. The researchers found that some of the young people had their music cranked up loud enough to cause long-term hearing damage and didn't even realize it. Look at the following pairs and decide which item has greater amplitude:Ĭolorado University recently studied a small group of iPod users. Greater amplitude produces louder sounds. A string plucked with force has greater amplitude, and greater amplitude makes the sound louder when it reaches your ear. This extra energy causes the string to vibrate more, which helps it move more air particles for a longer time. When you use more force to pluck the string, you are using more energy. On the other hand, if you pluck the same string with a lot of force, the note will be much louder. By using less energy, the string does not vibrate as much and will move less air than if you had plucked the same string forcefully. When you pluck a string gently, the sound will be softer because you have transferred less energy to the string. The volume of your guitar playing depends on how hard or softly you pluck the strings. If you are playing a guitar, the vibrations of the strings force nearby air molecules to compress and expand. Changing the amplitude of a sound wave changes its loudness or intensity. Sound waves and ocean waves may be made of different things, but they work the same way. The distance from the highest part of the crest to the lowest part of the trough is amplitude. The dips in-between each wave are called "troughs." The highest part of the wave is the crest.
It is directly related to amplitude, which is the height of a sound wave. So what happens when you turn the volume up on your stereo or television? Well, you're not only turning up the volume, you're actually turning up the amplitude!
This chain reaction continues until the particles run out of energy. When the air particles begin vibrating the air inside your ear, you hear a sound. Then these particles begin to vibrate and bump into even more air particles. When air particles vibrate, they bump into other particles near them. If you clap your hands, the shock causes the air around your hands to begin vibrating. Imagine you are sitting in a quiet room with a friend. When an object vibrates, it causes tiny air particles to move. Sound is a type of energy made by vibrations.