Sound is all around us. Every second of every day, we hear different noises that allow us to understand what is happening in the world around us. But how are these sounds made, and how do they get to our ears for us to interpret them as noise?
What is sound?
Sound is produced when something vibrates. When something vibrates, it also causes vibrations in its surrounding environment, which is air for the majority of the time. The vibrations of particles creates areas of particles which are bunched together, called compressions, and areas where they are spread out, called rarefactions.
Sound is produced when something vibrates. When something vibrates, it also causes vibrations in its surrounding environment, which is air for the majority of the time. The vibrations of particles creates areas of particles which are bunched together, called compressions, and areas where they are spread out, called rarefactions.
The above animation shows a vibrating object causing compressions (the parts where the dots are bunched close together) and rarefactions (the parts where the dots are further apart)