What is Sound?

Sound is made when something moves back and forth very fast—this is called vibrating. For example, when you hit a drum, the drum skin shakes. That shaking makes the air around it move too. These movements are called sound waves. Our ears catch these waves and send a message to our brain, and that’s how we hear sound.

How does Sound Travel?

Sound needs something to move through, like air, water, or solid things like metal or wood. It cannot travel through empty space because there’s nothing there to carry the wave.

Here’s how it works:

• When something vibrates, it pushes the air particles near it.

• Those air particles bump into the next ones.

• This keeps going, like a line of people passing a message.

• The wave reaches your ear, and you hear it.

Sound goes:

• Slowest in air (like when someone talks to you),

• Faster in water (like when dolphins talk under the sea),

• Fastest in solids (like when you put your ear on a table and tap it).

Now Imagine People Passing a Message

Let’s say you and your friends are standing in a line. One friend taps the next, then that friend taps the next, and it keeps going.

This is how sound travels! The air particles bump into each other and carry the sound forward—just like the tapping.

So:

• The vibration is the first tap.

• The air particles are like the people.

• The sound wave moves from one to the next—until it reaches your ear.