Question

Describe in brief, with the aid of a lebelled diagram, an experiment to demonstrate that a material medium is necessary for propagation of sound.

Answer 1

Experiment to demonstrate that a material medium is necessary for the propagation of sound:

An electric bell is suspended inside an airtight glass bell jar. The bell jar is connected to a vacuum pump as shown in figure. As the circuit of electric bell is completed by pressing the key, the hammer of the electric bell begins to strike the gong repeatedly due to which sound is heard.

Keeping the key pressed, air is gradually withdrawn from jar by starting the vacuum pump. It is noticed that the loudness of sound goes on decreasing as the air is taken out from the bell jar and finally no sound is heard when all the air from the jar has been drawn out. The hammer of the electric bell is still seen striking the gong repeatedly which means that sound is still produced but it is not heard.

When the jar is filled with air, the vibrations produced by the gong are carried by the air to the walls of jar which in turn set the air outside the jar in vibration and sound is heard by us but in absence of air, sound produced by bell could not travel to the wall of the jar and thus no sound is heard. It proves that material medium is necessary for the propagation of sound waves.