Can You Hear That?
Materials Needed:
Two Pieces of String (2 feet long each)
Two Small Paper Cups
Scissors
A Wire Coat Hanger
Hold both ends of one of the strings in your hand.
Hang the coat hanger on the string.
Flick the hanger with one of your fingers and listen to the sound.
Try tapping the hanger against a table very gently. How does it sound?
Now use the scissors to poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup.
Slip one string into each hole.
Make a knot in each string so the string will not slip out of the cup.
Tie each free end of the string to opposite ends of the coat hanger.
Hold the cups up to your ears and have a helper flick the hanger gently with his finger.
How does it sound? Is it louder than when you flicked the hanger before it was connected to the cups?
Gently, gently tap the hanger against a table. How does that sound? Does it sound louder than tapping the hanger prior to it being connected to the cups?
Gently tap the hanger with a spoon. How does that sound?
We can not see sound waves. Sound waves are vibrations in the air. Although we can not see them, we can sure hear them.
There are so many sounds to hear. Right now you may be able to hear traffic, birds, the refrigerator, the television, the computer, insects, a dog barking and many other sounds. All of these sounds are traveling through the air. Traveling through the air actually makes them harder to hear. As they compete with other noises the are harder to hear.
Would it be hard to hear your favorite television program if someone in the same room was playing the piano loudly?
When you place those cups over your ears you are doing two things. One- you are muffling out many other sounds. You might want to place the paper cups over your ears and see what you can and can't hear. Can you still hear the birds? Do they sound as loud?
Two- When the sound of the tapped hanger travels through the string it is more condensed. The sound waves are traveling along a path directly to your ears. You can hear the sound of your helper flicking the hanger much more clearly because the sound is traveling from the hanger, to the string, to the cup and directly into your ears.
You may want to cut several long pieces of string in different lengths. Using one string at a time connect one end of each string to the paper cups as described above.
Go To Page: 1 2
