# PHYSICS OF SOUND & ACOUSTICS "A LOOK AT SOUND" 1970s SCIENCE FILM MAGNETIC TAPE RECORDING

This mid-1970s documentary “A Look at Sound” is part of the “Life Around Us” series and was directed by Tom Spain, and narrated by Dan Ingram. A man topples a tree with a chainsaw. Big Ben rings. A ballerina spins in a music box. A woman wearing a felt hat is part of a Princeton football crowd. A police car speeds past ( 1:10 - 3:01 ). Various decibel sound waves and examples are shown ( 3:16 - 3:48 ). A street noise barometer in Tokyo displays to traffic, including a Toyota 1000 ( 3:49 - 4:26 ). A pebble dropped in a still pond creates waves ( 4:28 - 4:52 ). A modern version of Robert Boyle’s 1657 invention shows a ringing bell inside a glass jar with an air pump ( 5:17 - 6:15 ). Boys put their ears to a train track. They talk through tin cans joined by a long string ( 6:16 - 6:45 ). An animated diagram shows sound waves inside a concert hall and a yodeler ( 7:00 - 7:52 ). A telescope visualizes voice sound patterns in sonorous figures ( 7:54 - 8:16 ). Turpentine poured on a membrane and vibrated at various frequencies creates predictable patterns ( 8:17 - 8:54 ). Sand on a metal plate vibrated at a high frequency rearranges into patterns ( 9:55 - 9:10 ). Two liquids vibrated create figurative patterns ( 9:12 - 9:28 ). Iron filings appear to walk together when vibrated ( 9:29 - 9:45 ). Animation explains hearing via the eardrum, middle ear, and brain ( 9:46 - 11:15 ). Vibrations are shown at various cycles per second. A porpoise uses its skills, and slow-motion footage of…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Science, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/64984LifeAroundUsALookAtSoundVwr)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/64984LifeAroundUsALookAtSoundVwr?play=1)