How Sound Travels

Looking Around 2 — About Me / Games We Play. Hearing calls and whistles across the playground links to how sound moves through the classroom's "About Me" senses topics.

• Sound is made when something vibrates (shakes quickly).
• Sound travels through air from the source to our ears.
• Sound also travels through water and solids (like a wall or a string telephone).
• Sound becomes fainter the farther away you are from it.

Verbal: When you speak, your throat vibrates; the vibrations move through the air to reach a friend's ears.

Symbolic: Vibration -> travels through air/water/solid -> reaches ear -> we hear sound.

Level 1 — Sound needs vibration

A guitar string vibrates when plucked, sending sound through the air.

Level 1 — Sound travels through air

We hear a friend calling across the playground because sound moves through the air to our ears.

Level 2 — Sound through solids and water

Tapping one end of a table lets a friend feel/hear it at the other end; fish can sense sounds made in water.

Level 2 — India

Hearing a temple bell from far away, or a train whistle heard before the train is seen, both show sound travelling through air over distance.

Why does a friend's voice sound fainter when they stand farther away?

Step 1 — The voice makes the air vibrate near the mouth.
Step 2 — As sound travels farther, it spreads out and grows weaker.
Step 3 — By the time it reaches distant ears, it sounds fainter.
Answer: Sound gets fainter as distance increases.

• What makes a sound when you pluck a rubber band?
• Why can you hear a friend shout from across the field but softer than up close?
• Name one way sound can travel besides through air.

Stretch: Make a simple string telephone with two cups and a string. What do you notice about the sound?

Revision tip: Tap on a table and place your ear near the other end — notice how the tap feels and sounds.

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on How Sound Travels.