Curated OER
Understanding Waves
Students perform 3 hands-on activities to help them explain the terms "crest" and "trough" as related to sound, water, and light waves. All three waves types have troughs and crests. The activities use toys to demonstrate the properties...
Curated OER
Music
Third graders study sound waves and vibrations. They sing a silly round in three parts.
Georgia State University
Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Auditorium Acoustics
Home page for a hypertext physics course on auditorium acoustics and acoustical design.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12 Exploration Series: Simulations: Physics: Violin
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn about wave harmonics on a string by looking closely at the sound produced by a violin. Test string tension with harmonic number on violin strings in a simulated practice. Understand sound waves...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Radio Transmission
This interactive activity from A Science Odyssey tracks the journey of a sound wave from the moment a musician sings into a microphone until his voice reaches the vibrating speakers of an AM Radio.
University of New South Wales (Australia)
University of New South Wales: School of Physics: Physiclips
Concepts of waves and sound are thoroughly presented in animation and film clips.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Outer Space, the Silent Frontier: An Experiment on Sound Waves
In outer space there is utter silence. There are no sounds of traffic jams or thunderstorms or crashing waves. No buzzing bees or babies crying. Just silence. In this experiment, you will discover why empty space is void of sound.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Frequency Dependent Sound Absorption
Want to start a garage band, but Mom or Dad won't let you because it will make too much noise? This is a good project for someone who is interested in acoustics and likes to build things. The objective of this project is to determine if...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Measuring Vibrational Frequency With Light
Strike a key on the piano, and you hear the string vibrating. Just about any object vibrates when it's knocked, but how much and how fast? This project helps you find out. You'll build a simple light-sensing circuit for measuring the...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Extreme Sounds: Lessons in a Noisy World
Just how loud does a sound have to be for us to hear it? And how loud is too loud for our ears? Learn to measure levels of sound in this project, and discover the amazing auditory range your ears can detect in the noisy world around you.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Guitar Fundamentals: Wavelength, Frequency, & Speed
This is a rockin' project for guitarists with an interest in the physics behind music. If you have ever wondered why the pitch of the note changes when you fret the string, this project will help you understand by applying basic...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How to Make a Piano Sing
The renowned pianist Vladimir Horowitz once said, "The most important thing is to transform the piano from a percussive instrument into a singing instrument." In this lab, you will learn about sympathetic vibrations, a method used to...
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Sound
This simulation lets you see sound waves. Adjust the frequency or volume and you can see and hear how the wave changes. Move the listener around and hear what she hears.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Physics 2000: Constructive and Destructive Wave Interference
A physics course web page that features a Java applet in which visitors can observe the waveform resulting from the interference of two waves. The amplitude and wavelength of the interfering waves can be altered and the outcome observed.
University of New South Wales (Australia)
University of New South Wales: School of Physics: Physclips: Sound
Physiclips thoroughly presents the concept of sound with animations and film clips. Learn about the properties of sound and the physics behind sound waves with this site.
PBS
Pbs: Rough Science
Website companion to PBS show, "Rough Science," in which five scientists use their collective expertise to complete a series of tasks. Follow the scientists as they do things like generate electricity, make soap, make antibacterial...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Human Genome Project: Unearthing Buckyballs
Resource provides great information on buckyballs. Description of a process to identify and determine the size and type of fullerenes. Excellent movie on basic fullerene information. Pictures are also included for further information....
Canada Science and Technology Museum
Canada Science and Technology Museum: Background Information for Sound
Sound! How does it work? All you need to know about it is found here through a series of Q&As. Educators will find useful lesson plans.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Sound
Through multiple animations and interactive activities, this module allows students to investigate the properties of sound.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Musical Images
Students are introduced to the concept of the image of music. After listening to a song, they draw images of it by deciding where different musical instruments were placed during recording. They further investigate audio engineering by...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: String Telephones
Students investigate how sound travels through string and air. First, they analyze the sound waves with a paper cup attached to a string. Then, they combine the string and cup with a partner to model a string telephone. Finally, they are...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Biomimicry: Echolocation in Robotics
Students use ultrasonic sensors and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots to emulate how bats use echolocation to detect obstacles. They measure the robot's reaction times as it senses objects at two distances and with different sensor threshold...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robot Sensors and Sound
Using microphones connected to computers running Audacity software, student teams experiment with machine-generated sounds and their own voices and observe the resulting sound waves on the screen, helping them to understand that sounds...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sound and Light
The Sound and Light unit provides students with an understanding of sound and light waves through the theme of the "Sunken Treasure," a continuous story line throughout the lessons. In Lessons 1-5, students learn about sound, and in...