Year 4 Science · Sound · Summary
Year 4 Science Sound: summary and key words
Part of the Year 4 Science sound chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page
Chapter summary
| Skill | Method |
|---|---|
| How sounds are made | Sounds are made by things vibrating, which means moving back and forth quickly. |
| How sound travels | Vibrations travel through a medium, a solid, a liquid or a gas, to the ear, and make the eardrum vibrate. |
| Pitch | Fast vibrations give a high pitch. A longer part that vibrates, or a thick loose string, gives a lower pitch. |
| Volume | A bigger vibration makes a louder sound. A smaller vibration makes a quieter sound. |
| Distance | Sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases, because the vibrations spread out. |
Can you…?
- I can say that sounds are made by vibrating things
- I can name a medium that vibrations travel through, and say whether it is a solid, a liquid or a gas
- I can find the pattern between the length of a ruler over an edge and the pitch
- I can find the pattern between the size of a vibration and the loudness of a sound
- I can say that sounds get fainter with distance from the source
Key terms
- vibration
- a quick back-and-forth movement
- medium
- the solid, liquid or gas that sound travels through
- eardrum
- the thin part inside the ear that vibrates when sound reaches it
- pitch
- how high or low a sound is
- volume
- how loud a sound is
- sound source
- the thing that makes a sound
- string telephone
- two cups joined by a tight string, which carries sound along the string