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The loudness of a sound wave is determined by its amplitude.

Waves - Sound

In this GCSE Physics quiz you’ll revise how sound waves travel, loudness and pitch, and how echoes are produced by reflections.

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Fascinating Fact:

Echoes are produced when sound waves reflect from hard surfaces, such as walls or cliffs, and return to the listener.

In GCSE Physics, sound is studied as a type of longitudinal wave. You learn how vibrations travel through solids, liquids, and gases, and how frequency and amplitude affect pitch and loudness.

Key Terms

Longitudinal wave: A wave where the oscillations are parallel to the direction of energy transfer, like sound in air.
Frequency: The number of wave cycles passing a point each second, measured in hertz (Hz).
Echo: A reflected sound that is heard again after bouncing off a surface.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How do sound waves travel in GCSE Physics?

In GCSE Physics, sound waves are described as longitudinal waves that travel through a medium when particles vibrate and pass energy along, such as in air, water, or solids.

What is the difference between loudness and pitch in sound?

Loudness depends on the amplitude of the sound wave, while pitch depends on its frequency. Higher amplitude sounds are louder, and higher frequency sounds have a higher pitch.

Why can’t sound travel in a vacuum?

Sound cannot travel in a vacuum because there are no particles to vibrate. Sound waves need a medium such as air, liquid, or solid to carry the vibrations.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

The car horn and car unfortunately find themselves under water in a river. The car horn still produces a sound wave with a frequency of 680 Hz, however the speed of the sound is dramatically increased to 1485 m/s. What is the wavelength of the sound wave in water?

0.46 m

0.92 m

2.18 m

1,009,800 m

The denser the medium, the faster a sound wave will travel

2 .

If the pitch of a sound wave is increased, does the time period between waveforms increase or decrease?

Increases

Decreases

Remains the same

Randomly changes to a discrete value

Increasing the pitch means the sound wave vibrates more rapidly therefore there will be less time between the arrival of each successive compression or rarefaction

3 .

If a sound wave is made louder, what happens to the amount of energy the wave has?

The energy increases

The energy decreases

The energy remains constant

More information is required to answer the question

The pressure difference between compressions and rarefactions is greater

4 .

What is the pitch of a sound determined by?

Its amplitude

Its frequency

The medium through which it travels

Sound waves all have the same pitch

On the tonic sol-fa (doh, ray, mi etc) the first doh has a lower pitch than ray, which has a lower pitch than mi and so on

5 .

What is the loudness of a sound wave determined by?

The medium through which it travels

Its amplitude

Its frequency

Sound waves all have the same loudness

A larger amplitude means the energy carried by the waves is bigger, but the frequency and wavelength remain the same

6 .

What is an ultrasound wave?

An ultrasound wave is a sound wave which has a frequency higher than 20 kHz

An ultrasound wave is a sound wave which has the same frequency as an audible sound wave, however it has much greater energy

Ultrasound waves are transverse waves

There are no such things as ultrasound waves

20 kHz is the average upper limit for human hearing. Many animals including cats, dogs and bats can hear ultrasound

7 .

What kind of a wave is a sound wave?

Latitudinal

Electromagnetic

Longitudinal

Transverse

The energy and vibrations are in the same direction

8 .

How do sound waves travel?

Vibrations through a medium

Via a carrier particle called a photon

Via a carrier particle called a neutrino

Sound waves can only travel in a vacuum

They are waves of alternating higher and lower pressure

9 .

What are echoes?

An impressionist repeating the noise

Reflections of sounds

Reflections of light

Refraction of sounds

Common examples used in the GCSE are sonar from ships and submarines to measure depth, bats using echo location to find their prey and echoes in the mountains

10 .

A car horn produces a sound wave of frequency 680 Hz. When the sound wave is travelling through air, it has a wavelength of 0.5 m. What is the speed of the sound wave?

300 m/s

330 m/s

340 m/s

400 m/s

Light travels much faster so during a thunderstorm you see the lightning before hearing the thunder. If you count the time taken for the thunder to arrive after the flash, for every 3 seconds you count, the lightning was about one kilometre away

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Echoes and sonar

Author: Martin Moore