Loud and quiet sounds
Physics · Early Years · The School
Loud and quiet
Some sounds are LOUD, like a drum, a siren or a door banging. Some sounds are QUIET, like a whisper, a leaf rustling or someone breathing. Listening carefully and saying whether a sound is loud or quiet is the start of learning about sound.
Making it change
You can change how loud a sound is. Hit a drum gently and it is quiet; hit it harder and it is louder. Whisper and it is quiet; shout and it is loud. The harder something is hit or the more air you push, the louder the sound. You are in charge of it.
Far away sounds
A sound gets quieter the further away you are. If a friend claps next to you it is loud. If they walk to the other end of the room and clap the same way, it sounds much quieter. The clap has not changed — you have moved further from it.
Tap a drum as softly as you can — a quiet sound. Tap it normally. Now give it a firm hit — a loud sound. Same drum, same stick, same person; only the strength of the hit changed. Now keep the hit the same and walk backwards across the room while a friend taps. The taps get quieter as you go, and the drum has not changed at all — you have.