What is sound?
Sound comes from just about everywhere— from friends talking, radios
playing, jet planes roaring overhead. Even your breathing makes a tiny
sound.None of these sounds seem very much alike. But they are alike in one
important way. They are made when something moves back and forth very
quickly. These rapid back-and-forth movements are called vibrations
(vy BRAY shuhnz). The vibrations travel through the air. When they
reach our ears, we hear them as sounds.When things vibrate, the back-and-forth movement is often too small
and too fast for you to see. But sometimes you can feel the
vibrations. Touch your throat with your fingertips when you are
talking. Can you feel the movements when you speak? Vibrations inside
your throat make the sounds you are saying.Put your hand on the radio speaker when music is playing. Can you feel
the beat? The speaker is vibrating. Its back-and-forth movements make
the sounds that are the music you hear.Hear All About It
The vibrations you feel are energy—sound energy. Sound is making
tiny pushes and pulls. When the vibrations stop, the sound stops, too.
You don’t hear another sound until things start vibrating again.
