Light & Sound Vocabulary
Name and use vocabulary for how light and sound behave — light source, transparent, translucent, opaque, shadow, reflect, vibration, pitch, volume — and apply these terms correctly when describing observations about how light travels and how sounds are made and changed
What a learner can do afterwards
- Correctly classify a set of materials as transparent, translucent, or opaque and explain each term
- Explain what causes a shadow using the words 'opaque' and 'light source' correctly
- Describe what changes the pitch or volume of a sound using vibration vocabulary
The lesson
Light comes from a light source, like the sun or a lamp. Shiny things, like a mirror, reflect light, which means they bounce it back. A material can also be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Transparent means light goes straight through, so you see clearly. Translucent means only some light gets through, so things look blurry. Opaque means no light gets through at all.
Ben looks through three things. The clear window glass is transparent, so he sees the yard perfectly. The frosted bathroom window is translucent, so he only sees blurry shapes. The wooden door is opaque, so he cannot see through it at all.
A shadow forms when an opaque object blocks a light source. The light cannot pass through the object, so a dark shape appears behind it. No light source, no shadow.
Sound is made by vibration, which means something wiggles back and forth very fast. Two words describe sound: pitch is how high or low it is, and volume is how loud or soft it is.
Hit a drum softly and it makes small vibrations, so the sound is soft. Hit it hard and it makes big vibrations, so the sound is loud. Fast vibrations make a high pitch, and slow vibrations make a low pitch.
Opaque objects block a light source and make a shadow. Vibrations make sound, and how fast or big they are changes the pitch and volume.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.