waves

Ultrasound is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes. The sound waves are above human hearing, and the echoes from...

Position: Professor, Principal Investigator Centre for Brain Research, The University of Auckland. Field: Marine science. Professor John Montgomery is the former Director of the of Leigh...

This article introduces common student alternative conceptions about light based on education research. It is important that teachers are aware of these during a sequence of...

Water can exist as a solid (ice), liquid (water) or gas (vapour or gas). Adding heat can cause ice (a solid) to melt to form water...

Water seems to be everywhere in New Zealand. Oceans surround us. There are hundreds of lakes and rivers. Some South Island regions get more than 10...

In this activity, students participate in an interactive ‘true or false’ activity that highlights common alternative conceptions about light and sight. This activity can be done...

Many of us imagine tsunamis as tall, surf-like waves, but in the deep ocean, their amplitude is actually quite small. Tsunamis get much taller as they...

In this activity, students aim spears at a model of a fish in a container of water. When they move their spears towards the fish, they...

Travel under the waves to the reefs of New Zealand to explore sound and noise – what sound is, how it travels, what changes under water...

In this activity, students listen to sounds made in a swimming pool while being under water themselves. By the end of this activity, students should be...

In this activity, students play different kinds of sounds near a computer’s microphone and watch the resulting visual display created by oscilloscope software. By the end...

In this activity, students make a hydrophone and use it to listen to underwater sounds. By the end of this activity, students should be able to:...

in this activity, a class or group of students create several soundscapes to gain a greater appreciation of how background sound differs from one geographical setting...

In this activity, students make a pinhole camera and see images formed on an internal screen. They then use a lens and see brighter and sharper...

In this activity, students take part in a class experiment to locate sounds when blindfolded. By the end of this activity, students should be able to:...

In this activity, students model how sound travels by sending waves along two stretched plastic slinkies tied together. By the end of this activity, students should...

Hearing is the ability to detect sound. Human hearing The most obvious part of the human auditory system is the ear. This large protuberance on the...

Sound is a pressure wave caused when something vibrates, making particles bump into each other and then apart. The particles vibrate back and forth in the...

Sound is a pressure wave, but this wave behaves slightly differently through air as compared to water. Water is denser than air, so it takes more...

Three components are needed for sound to be heard: A source – where the sound is made. A medium – something for the sound to travel...

In this activity, students investigate specular and diffuse reflection by looking into a dark box and shining a torch at various objects, coloured paper and a...

If someone dropped you off several kilometres from your house, how would you know where you are and how would you find your way home? Chances...

Kina are a particular species of sea urchin endemic to New Zealand. Most of us can identify a kina shell found on a beach as a...

We know that sound behaves quite differently under water, moving faster and further, but how well can we predict what sound will do under water based...