Sound facts

• Sound comes from vibrations. These vibrations create sound waves which move through mediums such as air and water before reaching our ears.
• Our ears vibrate in a similar way to the original source of the vibration, allowing us to hear many different sounds.
• Dogs can hear sound at a higher frequency than humans, allowing them to hear noises that we can’t.
• Sound is used by many animals to detect danger, warning them of possible attacks before they happen.
• Sound can’t travel through a vacuum (an area empty of matter).
• The speed of sound is around 767 miles per hour (1,230 kilometres per hour).
• The loud noise you create by cracking a whip occurs because the tip is moving so fast it breaks the speed of sound!
• When traveling through water, sound moves around four times faster than when it travels through air.
• The scientific study of sound waves is known as acoustics.
• Although music can be hard to define, it is often described as a pleasing or meaningful arrangement of sounds.
• The sound of thunder is produced by rapidly heated air surrounding lightning which expands faster than the speed of sound.