---
title: "Sound travels through materials"
description: "Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to the ear"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/sound-travels-through-materials-mt_ydtcIBwHB9
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/sound-travels-through-materials-mt_ydtcIBwHB9.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Sound travels through materials

Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to the ear

Subject: Science · Area: Waves, Light & Sound · Ages 8 to 9
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/sound-travels-through-materials-mt_ydtcIBwHB9

## Ready when they can

- Explain that sound vibrations need a material (medium) to travel through. They can't travel in a vacuum.
- Give examples of sound travelling through different media: air, water, solid objects
- Describe how a string telephone works: voice vibrates the cup, vibrations travel along the string to the other cup

## Lesson: Sound needs a path to travel

Sound needs a material called a medium to travel through. Air is a gas medium, water is a liquid medium, and wood is a solid medium. A vacuum has no matter to carry sound. Light can cross a vacuum.

*(drawing: In a string telephone, your voice makes your cup vibrate first. The tight string then carries vibrations to the other cup.)*

**Example.** Rest your ear gently against a wooden table while a friend taps softly at the other end. Sound can reach your ear through wood or air. Both are possible paths.

Sound can pass through air, a wall, and air again. The solid wall carries vibrations even though you cannot see through it. It reflects or absorbs some sound, so the sound beyond it may be quieter.

A tight string is the solid medium carrying vibrations between telephone cups. Keep the string away from other objects. A slack string usually carries the vibrations less well, so the voice at the receiving cup is weaker.

*(drawing: For a bell and listener both underwater, the water between them carries sound.)*

A tapped helmet can vibrate even when a vacuum surrounds it. If two astronauts have no air or solid path between them and their radios are off, the tap cannot reach the other astronaut as sound. Check the gap, not just whether the source vibrates.

**Recap.** Sound always needs a medium (air, water or a solid) to travel from its source to your ear.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Vibrations & sound](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/vibrations-and-sound-mt_VBl1T1sFCM)
- [Light & sound vocabulary](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/light-and-sound-vocabulary-mt_YPSx5pbpVl)

## Opens up

- [How Sound Waves Travel](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/how-sound-waves-travel-mt_DQk9oDE7gr)
- [Sound Fading with Distance](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/sound-fading-with-distance-mt_Pau0aqLNgp)
- [Waves & how they move](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/waves-and-how-they-move-mt_ph4xZVMiVq)