Science Answer the following question.

Figure shows part of the set up used in this experiment. What is not shown is the electric circuit in which the electric bell is connected. A vacuum tight bell jar contains an electric bell connected to a power supply through the lid of the jar. The jar is placed on a smooth horizontal surface such as that of glass.

Initially the vacuum pump is off and the jar contains air. The circuit containing the bell is completed using the key or the switch so that the bell starts ringing. This can be heard outside the jar.

Then the vacuum pump is switched on so that it starts removing the air from the jar. We find that the level of ringing sound heard goes on decreasing as the quantity of air in the jar becomes less and less.

When the pump is operated for a sufficiently long time interval, the quantity of air in the jar becomes so less that the level of ringing sound becomes very low; sound is hardly audible. But we can see the striker in the bell hitting the gong. By extrapolation, we conclude that sound generation and propagation needs a medium.

The frequency of the sound produced depends upon the length and thickness of the cords, and the tension in the chords. The frequency increases with the increase in tension and the more the length or the thickness of the cord, the less is the frequency. Muscles attached to the cords can make the cords tight (more tension) or loose (less tension).

2. Sound produced in a loudspeaker:
Figure shows the internal construction of a loudspeaker. Here, a coil is wound around a permanent magnet. The conical screen of the loudspeaker is attached to the coil.

When a current is passed through the coil, a magnetic field is produced. Its interaction with the permanent magnet results in the back and forth motion of the coil. The frequency and the amplitude of the motion of the coil depends on the variation in the current through the coil.

As the coil moves, the conical screen also moves back and forth. The vibrations of the screen produce sound waves in air. Very loud sound can be produced by changing the current.

2. Flute: It is a wind instrument where air is blown against the edge or rim of the blowing hole. The frequency of the sound produced depends upon the length of the vibrating air column in the tube. The greater the length of the vibrating air column, the less is the frequency of the sound produced. This is how different sound notes are produced. The flute has six or seven or eight holes to generate sounds of different frequencies. Different notes can be generated also by changing the way of air-blowing.

Suppose the tuning fork is held vertical, its stem is fixed in a stand (not shown in the figure) and its prongs are struck lightly using a light hammer with a piece of rubber at the top. The prongs then start vibrating.
Figure (b) shows what happens when the prongs move away from each other. The air outside the prongs is compressed (layers in the region A). The pressure and density increase in this region.

Figure (c) shows what happens when the prongs move close to each other. The air molecules near the prongs move away from each other resulting in lower pressure and lower density.

This region is called rarefaction. Meanwhile, the compression produced earlier moves forward, i.e., away from the prongs because the air molecules in this region transfer their energy to the air molecules in the region B producing a compression there. The periodic formation of compression and rarefaction results in propagation of sound waves away from the prongs.

Eventually, these sound waves reach our ears, the ear-drum vibrates, and we get a sense of hearing a sound as the specific signals reach the brain.