Step 17 Lesson 2

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Sound Travels Through Materials

Objectives

To understand that sound travels better through certain materials than the air.

Resources

Smart device with an alarm | Various materials for muffling sound

Today's Lesson

Main Activity

Explain to your child that sound can travel through many different materials.

Set a smart device to play an alarm which will ring constantly. Ask your child to imagine that it was impossible to switch the alarm off because the device’s screen was damaged and we couldn’t get into the alarm app. Which material would be best for muffling the sound?

Ask your child to consider the effectiveness of five or six different materials that could be wrapped around the device to muffle the sound. They should predict the results by ranking them in order of their effectiveness. Ask your child to explain the reasons for their predictions through discussion.

Below is a suggested table that your child could draw to record their results. The materials are suggestions only.

Use the decibel app that was downloaded in previous weeks’ lessons to record the sound volume each time. Emphasise to your child the need to keep all other variables in their experiment the same - the only variable that is being changed is the material wrapped around the device.