02/06/2016

Science Terms
Pressure
the weight or force that is produced when something presses or
pushes against something else
P = F/A
Measurement
o dyne per centimeter squared (dyne/cm2)
o Pascals
2*10-4 or 0.0002 dyne/cm2 = 20 micropascals (Pa)
o Softest pressure our ears can pick up
Force
agent that results in accelerating or deforming an object.
Area
the number of square length units it takes to cover a surface
Any area with a boundary
A = L*W
Linear
arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line.
"linear arrangements"
progressing from one stage to another in a single series of steps;
sequential
Non-linear
not arranged in a straight or nearly straight line
Logarithm
repeated multiplication
Mathematical shortcut; opposite of exponent

 Used to determine decibels

X-axis
horizontal line
Y-axis
Vertical line
Oscillation
movement back and forth at a regular speed.
regular variation in magnitude or position around a central point.
Condensation
change of water from gaseous (water vapor) form to liquid (water)
form
Rarefaction
diminution in the density of something, especially air or a gas.
the lessening of density of tissue, especially of nervous tissue or
bone.
Frequency
the rate at which something occurs or is repeated over a particular
period of time or in a given sample.
the rate at which a vibration occurs that constitutes a wave, either
in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as
in radio waves and light), usually measured per second.
Amplitude
the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from
the position of equilibrium.
Resonance
the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating.
the reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection from a
surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object.
Vacuum
a space entirely devoid of matter.
Space in which there is no matter or in which the pressure is so
low that any particles in the space do not affect any processes
being carried on there. It is a condition well below normal
atmospheric pressure and is measured in units of pressure (the
pascal)
--Simple Sound Terms

Pure Tones Sounds at only one frequency

a tone with a sinusoidal waveform, i.e. a sine or cosine wave. This
means that regardless of other characteristic properties such as
amplitude or phase, the wave consists of a single frequency.
Sine Wave
a mathematical curve that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation.
It is named after the function sine, of which it is the graph. It
occurs often in pure and applied mathematics, as well as physics,
engineering, signal processing and many other fields.
Rhythmic and predictable

Sinusoid
a curve having the form of a sine wave.
Simple Harmonic Motion
a type of periodic motion where the restoring force is directly
proportional to the displacement and acts in the direction opposite
to that of displacement
-----Matter
anything that has mass and takes up space
Mass
a property of a physical body. It is generally the amount of matter
of an object. It is determined by the strength of its mutual
gravitational attraction to other bodies, its resistance to being
accelerated by a force, and in the theory of relativity gives
the massenergy content of a system.
Inertia
the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of
motion (this includes changes to its speed, direction or state of
rest). It is the tendency of objects to keep moving in a straight line
at constant velocity.
Elasticity

the ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after

being stretched or compressed; stretchiness
the ability of something to change and adapt; adaptability.

How do echoes work?

When a sound is made, it reflects but from a far away point
o Distance creates a delay and air resistance typically makes
the sound lower in amplitude than the original
True echo
Single reflection of a sound source

Describe the Doppler effect

Aka Doppler shift
Change in frequency of a wave (or other periodic event) for an
observer moving relative to its source.

o
Describe sonar and echolocation and how they work

Sonar
o the use of sound on water or underwater, to navigate or to
locate other watercraft, usually by submarines
Ex: whales
Echolocation
o the general use of sound to locate objects
Ex: bats
How the sound waves different from radio waves
Sound waves are compression waves in that they oscillate in the
direction of travel through a medium like gas (e.g., air). Radio
waves are translational waves in that they oscillate perpendicular to
the direction of travel in whatever medium the wave is traveling in.
o Travel at the speed of sound
Subject to temperature, density of the medium, etc.
Depending on such factors, the speed of sound is about
500-600 mph in air at sea level. This works out to be
about 880 feet per second at 600 mph.
Radio waves
o Travel about 186,000 miles per second in air or vacuum,
which is the speed of light because radio waves are simply
light waves in an invisible section of the spectrum. This light
speed equates to very roughly 900,000,000 feet per second,
which is about 900,000 times faster than sound in air. This
accounts for why you see lightening before you hear its
thunder.
Describe FM and AM (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/radio/radiorelayer.html)
FM radio works the same way that AM radio works. The difference is
in how the carrier wave is modulated, or altered. With AM radio, the
amplitude, or overall strength, of the signal is varied to incorporate
the sound information. With FM, the frequency (the number of
times each second that the current changes direction) of the carrier
signal is varied.
FM signals have a great advantage over AM signals. Both signals
are susceptible to slight changes in amplitude. With an AM
broadcast, these changes result in static. With an FM broadcast,
slight changes in amplitude don't matter -- since the audio signal is
conveyed through changes in frequency, the FM receiver can just
ignore changes in amplitude. The result: no static at all.