Exploring sound 

Picture
http://www.dosits.org/tutorials/sciencetutorial/frequency/
Picture
http://scienceaid.co.uk/physics/waves/properties.html

EXPLORING LIGHT

Exploring Sound and Light
In our final days of 5th grade, we will explore sound and light.  Both are waves, characterized by frequency and amplitude.  Both are energy moving through a media.  Our study of sound and light will help us understand our world.

Videos We Watched in Class
Bill Nye the Science Guy - Sound
Resonance: Tacoma Bridge Collapse
Why Physics Is Awesome: The Power Of Resonance!
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Light
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Episode 51 Waves

Exploration/Activities with Sound:
  1. Describe the factors that affect the pitch and loudness of sound produced by vibrating objects. 
  2. Describe how sound is transmitted, reflected and/or absorbed by different materials.
  3. Generalize that vibrating objects produce sound if the vibrations are transferred from the object through another material (e.g., air, a solid, or a liquid). 
  4. Demonstrate how the loudness, pitch and quality/timbre of sound can be varied. 
  5. Design and conduct investigations to determine factors that affect pitch. 
  6. Describe the properties of materials that reflect or absorb sound. 
  7. Analyze properties of materials that cause sound to be reflected or absorbed, then apply findings to design a device that reflects or absorbs sound. 
  8. Construct simple musical instruments (e.g., rubber band guitars, drums, etc.) that produce sounds with various pitches, volume and timbres.

Exploration/Activities about Light:
  1. Describe how light is absorbed and/or reflected by different surfaces.
  2. Provide evidence that light travels in straight lines away from a source in all directions. 
  3. Investigate how light is refracted as it passes through a lens or through one transparent material to another. 
  4. Demonstrate that white light is composed of many colors. 
  5. Explain that all visible objects are reflecting some light to the human eye. 
  6. Contrast the way light is reflected by a smooth, shiny object (e.g., mirror or pool of water) and how light is reflected by other objects. 
  7. Determine whether a material is opaque, transparent or translucent based on how light passes through it. 
  8. Design and conduct light absorption experiments that vary the size, length, direction and clarity of a shadow by changing the position of the light-blocking object or the light source.