What solids, liquids and gases are made up from.

To regularly and repeatedly move back and forth.

Any way of accurately representing, picturing or imagining a scientific idea.

A disturbance that travels, like a ripple on water.

Travelling vibrations

Science

Sound vibrations

Travelling sound

Reflecting and absorbing sound

Shadows

Reflecting light from mirrors

How we see things

Reflections in mirrors

In the Making images unit, they will build on this knowledge to learn that white light is made of different colours that can be detected by the eye, and how pinhole cameras and lenses form clear images.

In the Light and how it travels (Y6) unit, pupils learnt that light travels in straight lines, which explains why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them, and objects are seen by the light that reflects back into the eye or travels directly into it from a light source.

This unit explores sound and light waves, including frequencies, echoes, reflection, absorption, and the need for a medium for sound to travel. It also compares light and matter waves, investigates light transmission and colour, and examines wave properties and effects.

Sound, light and vision

Which of the following is a description of a wave?

They travel to the other side of the room.

They pull on other air particles that are joined to them.

They stick to air particles in front of them.

A vibrating ruler makes a sound. Each time the ruler moves forwards, it pushes air particles forwards. What do these particles do to make the sound travel forwards across the room?

This pushes them in the same direction as the string is moving.

When the string moves the opposite way, this creates empty space.

Some nearby air particles move into the space because of their random motion.

Sort the following statements into the correct order to describe what happens to particles that are near the left side of the string when a guitar string is plucked and starts vibrating.

The sound wave makes air build up inside the ear.

The sound wave makes part of the ear move back and forth.

Which of the following explains how a person can hear a sound?

a helpful but not always accurate way of thinking

a 3D model we can make (with clay, for example)

A scientific model is {{}} about a part or behaviour of the real world. 

the back and forth vibrations of the air particles

In a simple model of a sound wave in air, air particles simply move back and forth. The wave travels because particles hit other particles. 
Which of the following details does this model ignore?

repeated movements forwards and backwards

Which of the following actions are vibrations?

Three things that can make sounds are: a human speaking, a flute and a violin. How many of these cause sounds by making something vibrate?

the size of a vibration (how far an object vibrates)

Match each of the following key terms with its definition.

Which of the following changes will lower the pitch of the sound made by a drum?

If the {{}} of the vibration of an object increases, the pitch of the sound it makes also increases.

If the {{}} of a vibration of an object increases, this increases the volume of the sound it makes.

Starter Quiz

Which of the following actions are vibrations?