HOW SOUND TRAVELS
Making Waves: A Sound Experiment
Investigate different materials and see how and why certain materials can conduct sound.

Materials:
Tray of water, ruler, marbles, string, tissue paper, stereo and stereo speakers
Preparatory Activities:
Discuss how sound travels in waves and how those waves bring “sound” to our ears. Discuss what molecules are and how they are all around us. Talk to the class about the experiments listed below and come up with hypotheses about what will happen in each experiment.

Teaching Sequence:
Experiment No. 1 – Sound Waves
1. Fill a shallow dish up with water and let it sit until the surface is smooth.
2. Place one finger in the water and note and record the resulting wave pattern on the surface of the water.
3. After waiting for the water to be calm, try placing different size and weight objects in the water and note and record the wave pattern on the surface of the water.
4. After waiting for the water to be calm, try placing the same objects previously used in the water at different speeds and record the results.

Experiment No. 2 – Marbles as Sound Molecules
1. Place four marbles in a row on a smooth flat surface.
2. Roll a fifth marble so that it hits the row of marbles on the edge.
3. Note and record the distance the fifth marble was rolled from and the distance and direction that the first four marbles moved once they were hit by the fifth marble.
4. Discuss how the marbles passed the initial hit down the line. Discuss how this transference of the energy is much like how sound travels from one molecule to another.

Experiment No. 3 – The Power of Sound Waves
1. Attach a piece of string to a piece of tissue paper.
2. Hold the tissue paper in front of the stereo speakers and turn up the music.
3. Note and observe what happens to the tissue paper as the music gets louder.
4. Try different types of music (i.e. louder, softer, classical, rock, rap) and note and record how the tissue paper moves differently.

Virginia Standards of Learning Connection – Science
Third Grade – 3.1
Fourth Grade – 4.1
Fifth Grade – 5.2

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