Year 4 · Sound and electricity

Loud, quiet, high and low

Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it

20 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it

Key learning points

• Bigger vibration, louder sound
• Distance changes volume too
• Faster vibration, higher pitch
• Keeping them separate

This lesson at a glance

20 minutes
19 parts to scroll through
4 quick checks
No marked quiz yet
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

patternsvolumestrengthvibrationsproduced

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Loud, quiet, high and low

Feel how a vibration turns into a sound you can hear.

Do it for real

The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.

Bottles and bands: changing pitch and volume Conductor or insulator? Test ten things See a sound being made

In a nutshell

Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You know sounds are made by something vibrating.

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

vibration: A fast back-and-forth movement.
volume: How loud or quiet a sound is.
pitch: How high or low a sound is.
amplitude: How big a vibration is.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Volume

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Bigger vibration, louder sound

Pluck an elastic band gently and it wobbles a little: quiet. Pull it further and let go and it wobbles much further: loud. The size of the vibration is its amplitude, and bigger amplitude means more volume. Hit a drum harder and the skin moves further — same idea.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Distance changes volume too

A sound spreads out as it travels, so it gets quieter the further away you are. Walk away from a radio and nothing about the radio changed — the vibrations reaching your ear just got smaller. That is why we say volume depends on both the vibration and the distance.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Making a bigger vibration changes the…

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

A short, tight string gives a…

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Pitch

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Faster vibration, higher pitch

Pitch is different. A short, tight, thin string vibrates faster and gives a high note; a long, loose, thick string vibrates slower and gives a low note. On a guitar, pressing a fret shortens the string and the note goes up. Tapping bottles filled with different amounts of water works the same way.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Keeping them separate

You can have a quiet high note (a whispered squeak) and a loud low note (a bass drum). So loudness is about how big the vibration is, and pitch is about how fast it is. If you can say which one changed, you can explain almost any sound question.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Walking away from a speaker makes the sound…

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

A bass drum is…

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Saying a sound is 'higher' when you mean louder.
Thinking a big instrument must be loud rather than low.
Forgetting that distance changes volume.

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

The size of the vibration is its amplitude, and bigger amplitude means more ____.

Walk away from a radio and nothing about the radio changed — the ____ reaching your ear just got smaller.

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

Method and results
Writing
Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.
1 page + results table
Conclusion
Writing
Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.
6–8 sentences
Labelled diagram
Diagram
Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.
1 labelled diagram
Reading and notes
Reading
Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.
Half a page of notes

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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