system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 Why does metal make a ringing sound when hit. How do the vibrations translate into sound?
gpt
Metal bends when you hit it, then jiggles as it straightens out - imagine slapping a ruler, or flicking a small spring.  A more solid piece of metal does it much more quickly, several hundreds or thousand times per second.

As it bends and jiggles, its movement moves the air around it.  In a ruler, these ripples in the air are far too weak and too slow to form audible sound; but in a piece of metal, they're much sharper and faster, producing a wave of air pressure which we experience as sound.