Lesson T4.1.2

T4.1.2 Sound waves and their speed Quiz: KS3 Physics, Unit 4

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson T4.1.2, Sound waves and their speed: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Physics (National Curriculum), Unit 4: Waves, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What do sound waves need in order to travel?

    • A vacuum, which carries sound fastest because nothing gets in the way of its travel
    • Only sunlight, which heats the air so that the sound can travel up through it
    • Only light, which is a transverse wave that carries sound along with it through space
    • A medium, such as a gas, liquid or solid

  2. What unit is used to measure the frequency of a sound wave?

    • Newtons (N), which is the unit of force used when a sound pushes on a microphone
    • Hertz (Hz)
    • Decibels (dB) only, which is the unit used for how loud a sound seems to a listener
    • Metres per second (m/s), which is the unit of speed for the sound wave in its medium

  3. Sound waves are described as what type of wave?

    • Longitudinal
    • Electromagnetic, because sound carries energy as changing electric and magnetic fields in air
    • Transverse, because the particles move up and down at right angles to the direction of travel
    • Surface, because sound only travels along the top of a medium such as a liquid or a solid

  4. Which medium carries sound fastest?

    • Solids
    • Gases, because the particles in a gas move quickly and pass the vibrations on rapidly
    • Liquids, because the particles of a liquid are free to slide and move past each other
    • Vacuums, because the empty space allows the sound to travel without any resistance at all

  5. What is the approximate speed of sound in air at room temperature?

    • About 340 m/s
    • About 3400 m/s, which is roughly ten times faster than the true speed of sound in air
    • About 300 000 000 m/s, which is the speed of light in a vacuum and not of sound
    • About 3 m/s, which is roughly the speed of a person walking slowly along a path

  6. A sound source at a distance of 340 m is heard after 1 second. What is the speed of the sound?

    • 340 m/s
    • 1 m/s, which is found by dividing the time by the distance instead of the other way round
    • 34 m/s, which is found by dividing the distance by ten rather than by the time taken
    • 3400 m/s, which is found by multiplying the distance by ten and then by the time taken

  7. Roughly how far does sound travel in 3 seconds through air?

    • About 3400 m, which is found by multiplying the speed by ten and then by the three seconds
    • About 340 m, which is the distance sound covers in one second rather than in three seconds
    • About 1020 m
    • About 113 m, which is found by dividing the distance by three instead of multiplying by three

  8. Which statement about the speed of sound is correct?

    • Sound travels at the same speed in every medium, because the speed depends on loudness only.
    • Sound travels slower in solids than in air, because the solid particles are too close together.
    • Sound usually travels faster in water than in air.
    • Sound travels faster through a vacuum than through any solid, because there is nothing to slow it.

  9. A loudspeaker cone moves in and out rapidly. What does this produce?

    • Water waves on the surface of the air, which ripple outwards across the room from the speaker
    • Light waves that travel in straight lines away from the cone and across the room to the listener
    • Heat that spreads out from the cone, which warms the air in front of the speaker as it moves
    • Sound waves made by vibrations of the air particles

  10. What part of the ear is set in motion by sound waves first?

    • The lens, which focuses light onto the retina of the eye rather than sound onto the ear
    • The eardrum
    • The retina, which is the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye and not part of the ear
    • The cornea, which is the clear outer layer of the eye that bends light as it enters

  11. A microphone has a thin diaphragm. What does the diaphragm do when sound reaches it?

    • It vibrates and the vibrations are converted into electrical signals.
    • It stops all sound from reaching the circuit, which blocks the sound from being recorded at all.
    • It turns into light and travels down a wire, which carries the sound to the recording device.
    • It stores the sound as a permanent magnet, which keeps the pattern for later playback.

  12. Why does sound travel more slowly in air than in steel?

    • The particles in air are further apart, so vibrations pass between them more slowly.
    • Steel is hotter than air at room temperature, so sound moves faster through the metal.
    • Air is denser than steel, so it blocks sound and slows its progress through the medium.
    • Air particles are charged, so they absorb sound and reduce its speed as it travels through.

  13. Which frequency range do humans typically hear?

    • About 2 Hz to 200 Hz, which covers only the very lowest notes that a human can hear
    • About 20 000 Hz to 200 000 Hz, which covers the very high frequencies that humans cannot hear
    • About 200 Hz to 2000 Hz, which covers only the middle range of the notes that humans hear
    • About 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz

  14. Which of these sounds has the highest frequency?

    • A high-pitched whistle
    • A slow bass note from a tuba, which is a deep note made by a long brass instrument
    • A deep drum beat, which has a long wavelength and a low number of vibrations each second
    • A low rumble from thunder, which is a deep sound made by a large amount of air moving

  15. What is an ultrasound wave?

    • A sound wave with a frequency above the range humans can hear.
    • A water wave that travels at high speed across the surface of a calm pool of water
    • A light wave that cannot be seen by the human eye, because its colour lies outside the range
    • A sound wave that is produced only by machines and never by natural things such as animals

  16. Which statement about longitudinal waves is correct?

    • Compressions and rarefactions move along the direction of the wave.
    • Particles do not move at all, because the energy travels through the medium without any movement.
    • Particles move in a circle around a fixed point, which causes the wave to spread out in all directions.
    • Particles move up and down at right angles to the wave, which is how the wave is carried along.

  17. Why can astronauts not hear each other speak directly in the vacuum of space?

    • Sound waves only travel upwards from the surface of a planet, so they cannot spread across space
    • Astronauts' voices are absorbed by the fabric of the spacesuit instead of being carried outwards
    • Sound waves are too quiet to travel through the thin suits that astronauts wear over their bodies
    • There are no particles in a vacuum to carry the sound vibrations.

  18. Which property of a sound wave determines how high or low its pitch sounds?

    • Its direction, which is the way in which the sound leaves the source and reaches the listener
    • Its speed, which depends on the medium that the sound wave is travelling through at the time
    • Its frequency
    • Its amplitude, which controls how loud the sound seems to a listener standing in the room

  19. What is a compression in a sound wave?

    • A region where the particles are spread further apart than normal, leaving a gap in the air
    • A place where the sound is reflected back to the source of the wave and then absorbed
    • A point where the wave has no particles present at all, so the sound stops at that point
    • A region where the particles are squeezed closer together than normal.

  20. A sound has a frequency of 512 Hz. What is the time for one complete vibration?

    • About 0.02 s, which moves the decimal point one place too far when dividing one by 512
    • About 0.002 s
    • About 512 s, which mistakes the frequency in hertz for the time taken for one vibration
    • About 0.5 s, which is the reciprocal of 2 used in place of the frequency of 512 vibrations

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