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Bartlett Archer Shappee

 

Sound follows the wave characteristic of diffraction.  Diffraction is the ability of waves to bend around obstacles if their wave length is large compared to the obstacle. I have seen this when Mr. Kovalcin talks to us from the prep room.

Reflection is a characteristic shared by both waves and sound.  Reflection is waves ability of an incident wave to reflect of an interface with a higher impedance.  I have witnessed sounds reflection in our sound lab and the echoes from the gym wall after the bricks were smacked together.

Sound has a frequency.  Wave frequency is the number of waves which pass though a given point in the time frame of a second.  We measured the frequency of a tuning fork using a speaker, an amplifier, and a multi-meter.

The speed of sound like a wave can be predicted using wavelength and frequency.  The velocity of a wave is the product of wavelength and frequency.  After finding the wavelength of wave in a resonance tube and the frequency from a multi-meter, I was able to accurately predict the velocity of sound.

Two sounds can produce beats.  Waves of frequency slightly off produce beats in proportion to the difference in frequency.  I witnessed these beats while with my brother at New Jersey Youth Symphony Orchestra, while they were getting their instruments tuned.

Sound waves transfer energy.  Waves transfer energy from one point to another through a median.  When we talking around and using the tuning fork with the speaker which sends back energy to the amplifier, which takes energy and increases it proportionally, we got readings, allowing us to conclude the original energy can from sound.

Sound can be produced by a driven Oscillator.  Waves can produced by an oscillator such as a hanging weight on a spring or a driven oscillator attached to a elastic string.  I have witnessed sound being produced by such a way when I take my speaker covers off and see the cone vibrating, producing sound.

Like waves, when energy is added to the system, sound volume is increased.  When producing a wave, increasing the amplitude of a wave increase its energy content.  When I turn up my speaker adding more energy the volume of sound increases.

Sound displaces a median.  While waves travel through a median they displace a median in respect to their amplitude.  While standing near a loud speaker I can feel the air moving around me and when I crank my stereo stuff starts falling off my speakers and surfaces near them.

Sound can transfer information.  Through varying frequency in wave information can be based from one end to another in a median, such as Morse code.  Besides when teachers are speaking to a class transfer information from them to the students, when I had a dialup I could pick up the phone and here different sounds, which made my computer display different forms of information.

When sound is produced by two different sources it can undergo interference.  Interference is when two waves in the same plane intersect, their amplitudes are added.  This was witnessed through destructive interference when Mr. Kovalcin played sounds of equal frequency from two point sources and by moving my head I could find points were the volume was dramatically decreased.