1. Grade 5
Sound Energy

2. Pitch Some sounds are higher than others.
The pitch : is how high or low a sound is.
Pitch is the highest or lowest sound an object makes.
Objects that vibrate slowly, make a low pitch. (example: drum).
Objects that vibrate quickly, make a higher pitch. (example: recorder)

3. What is frequency of a sound?
The length of a string of an instrument affect how
fast they will vibrate. A shorter string vibrates faster. ( there are more vibrations per second).
The frequency of a sound: is the number of vibrations per second.
A sound with a high frequency has a high pitch.
A sound with a low frequency has a low pitch.
Smaller objects usually vibrates faster than larger objects do.
Engage: Display focus question: What is sound? Brainstorm and discuss with students a list of all the different sounds they have heard.
Workbook p. 141A pre-assessment. Briefly play some music from an electronic device that has a speaker. Turn it off and place a paper plate on a speaker. Then pour some rice or salt on the plate. Play the music again. Let students see how the sound causes the rice or salt to vibrate and form a ripple wave pattern.
Explore: Teacher can facilitate Quick Activity from SF TE p. 454 with a pencil, string, and a straw Or See handout: Exploring Sound and give students different sizes of rubber bands, and plastic cups to explore sound. Students reflect on their explorations in their journals/notebooks.
Explain: Teacher and students read/discuss What is Sound? Pp top of p. using illustration of guitar and wavelengths with captions, too.
Also use Scott Foresman online resources: Gr. 5 Take it to the Net: Physical Science Game: Sound Energy; Watts Notes: Sound. Set up a class and get access to Discovery Video # 26.
Extend pitch concept with the lab: Can you Make Different Sounds with a Ruler? (see handout.)
With either strategy have students take notes of the key concepts.

4. Sound travels
Sound travels in waves that move in all directions from the object that makes the sound.
When the sound hits something, some or all of the energy is absorbed.
Soft surfaces absorb more sound energy than hard surfaces.
A sound that hits a hard surface bounces back ( not much of it is absorbed).
An “Echo”: is a sound that bounces off a surface

5. Sound Sound energy waves move like “ the domino effect”.
Sound waves can carry energy a long distance.
The energy travels from place to place, but the matter that carries the energy stay where it is.
Remember: air is not the only matter that can carry sound waves.
Any kind of matter can be made to vibrate
and carry sound.
A medium: is matter that carries sound waves.

6. Sound
The speed of sound depends on the medium through which it is moving.
The speed doesn’t depend on how loud or soft the volume is. Or how low or high the pitch is.
All sounds travel through a certain kind of medium at the same speed.
If the medium changes, the speed of the sound changes.
Sound moves faster in warm air than in hot air.

7. Sound Travels Through Matter
Solids
Some sounds that we hear travel through solids.
Sound waves travel very fast through solids.
For example: When you hit a drum, it vibrates, then the sound travels through the air, to your ears.
Gases
Most of the sounds we hear travel through gases, such as air.
Sound waves travel slowly through the air.
For example: Sound from a bell, a horn, or an alarm clock travels through the air.
Liquids
Some sounds that we hear travel through water.
Sound waves travel a faster through water than through the air.
Sonar is the way to use sounds to locate objects under water.

8. In which state of matter, gas, liquid, or solid does sound travel the best?
Sound travels the fastest and is heard the best through solids.
Sound travels the slowest and is the quietest when traveling through gases.
Sound travels at different speeds in different states of matter/materials.
Can sound travel in a vacuum? Explain.
Explore: See handout and set up the lab materials for In which state of matter, does sound travel best through? ( can be heard the loundest)
Students share hypotheses before the experiment. Discuss 3 types of variables: independent, dependent, and constant. After experiemnt, have students share data collected and their conclusions.
Explain and Extend: Also use Scott Foresman online resources:
Set up a class and get access to Discovery Video # 111 that reviews sound concepts: vibrations, waves, loudness, pitch and in what state does sound travel the best.
Evaluation: Students’ Lab Sheets; Workbook p. 141A

9. Sound makes the air vibrate.
For sound to be heard, sound vibrations must have air or some other kind of matter or medium to travel through.
You cannot hear sound in outer space because there is no air or other matter to carry sound vibrations.
How do you think astronauts are able to talk each other in outer space?

10. Animals & Sound
People can hear sound over a wide range of frequencies.
The highest sound that people can hear have frequencies about 200,000 vibrations per second.
Many animals can hear sounds that are outside the range of human hearing. ( dogs= 25,000/sec).
Bats: have better hearing than most other animals ( 100,000 vibrations/sec).
Bats produce sounds that bounces off objects in the bat’s path, the bat hear the echo.
Echo help the bat fly at night & also help them hunt

11. Animals & Sound
People, dogs & bats have parts of their ears on the outside of their bodies.
Snakes & birds have no outside ear parts .
Ex. Grasshopper have a membrane near their legs that pick up vibrations in the air.
Hair like structures on the body pick up vibrations in the ground.
Snake uses its lower jaw to sense vibrations from the ground.