Pitch, Frequency, and Volume!

What are Sound Waves?

Sound Waves are what sound travels in! They are little vibrations of air that travel through a medium or a material that it is travelling through. Sound Waves are why you can hear a jackhammer or my podcast!! Sound Waves work like this:

First, an object or person has to make a sound. A sound is made by an object vibrating back and forth. When the object vibrates, the air around it starts to move. The molecules of air bump into each other. This causes a wave of air molecules. This wave continues until it reaches your ear!! This is how sound waves work!

Pitch

Pitch is a property of sound.It is how high or low a sound is. Compare a flute to a tuba. The flute has a higher pitch than the tuba. If a sound has a high pitch, the sound waves are closer together. If a sound has a low pitch, the sound waves will be farther apart from each other.

Frequency

Frequency is and pitch are related. Frequency is how many sound waves are there in a specific period of time. A higher frequency is harder for humans to hear. The pitch gets higher every time there are more sound wave vibrations in one specific period of time (Ex. 1 second or 1 minute).

Volume

Volume is how high the sound wave is (height). The taller the sound wave, the louder the sound. This is how you can control volume on speakers.