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Making sounds

Waves, sound and light · level 1, lesson 1 of 6

A question to start

Put your fingers gently on the front of your throat and hum. What do you feel?

The idea

You feel a buzzing. Your throat is shaking very fast. Every sound comes from something shaking, back and forth, very quickly. Scientists call this shaking a vibration.

  • Hit a drum and its skin shakes.
  • Pluck a guitar string and the string shakes.
  • Talk or sing, and parts of your throat shake.

When the shaking stops, the sound stops too.

the skin shakessound spreads out

Worked examples

1. A ruler. Hold a ruler flat on a table with half of it sticking out over the edge. Twang the end. You can see it shake, and you hear a sound.

2. Stopping a sound. Ring a bell, then hold it tightly. The bell stops shaking, and the ringing stops.

3. A rubber band. Stretch a rubber band over an empty box and pluck it. The band blurs as it shakes.

Try it

  1. What does every sound come from?
  2. What shakes when you sing?
  3. How do you stop a ringing bell?
  4. Name something you can see shaking when it makes a sound.
Answers
  1. Something shaking, or vibrating.
  2. Parts of your throat.
  3. Hold it tightly, so it stops shaking.
  4. Any one: a ruler on a table, a guitar string, a rubber band, a drum skin with rice on it.

Common mistake

"Sounds come from inside the drum." The sound comes from the drum's skin shaking. Stop the skin and the sound stops.

Where it leads