If your child is like mine, I’m sure you heard this question and many others like it: does sound travel through water? Today I’ll share with you an easy way to answer this question in a fun and exciting way, during bath time.
So, Does Sound Travel Through Water?
Sounds travels faster through denser materials than through less dense materials. Water is denser than air. Therefore, sound travels about five times faster through water than through air.
What is sound?
Sound is the traveling of vibrations through waves. We hear these waves as they travel through air, water or solids, such as the ground.
You may have seen in some old movies that a person would put their ear to a train track to be able to tell if a train was coming. The sound of the train moves much faster through the metal track than it does through the air.
You can experiment with sound traveling though water during bath time.
To illustrate how sound travel better through water than air, ring a bell outside of water. Then, have your child go under, at least their ears, and then have them ring a bell under water. How is the sound different?
They will discover that the sound in the water is clear and louder than the sound in the air.
Don’t have a bell available to do this little experiment? You can also demonstrate the same thing by tapping on the side of the tub. The tapping sound will be much louder to your child while they are under the water. Liquids truly carry sound farther and faster than air.
Learn more about sounds
It’s fun to learn how sound travels. Checkout these books about sounds: your kids will have a blast learning.
How Does Sound Change? (Light and Sound Waves Close-Up)Sound: Loud, Soft, High, and Low (Amazing Science)How Sound Moves (Science Readers: Content and Literacy)
Want more science projects? Here’s a bunch of easy ones.