This week we have been doing more science experiments - this time to do with sound. This is one of the cheapest and easiest activities we've done, but be prepared to talk about molecules and how sound travels if your children are anywhere near as full of questions as mine ...
What you need: some tissues / kitchen roll, a couple of forks, a plastic cup (the kind you have at parties), a pot of water, some string and some scissors. Oh, and a table.
Experiment 1: tie one of the forks onto the end of a piece of string. Hold the other end of the string onto your ear - you have to push quite firmly, but don't put the string actually into your ear. Then swing the fork at the bottom so it hits the edge of the table. The fork will make a thudding noise to everyone else but to the person holding the string on their ear they will hear chiming like church bells. The sciencey bit is that because the molecules in a solid (ie the string) are more closely packed together than those in a gas (ie the air) they carry the sound much better and less is lost between the fork and your ear.
Experiment 2: make a hole in the bottom of the plastic cup and put a piece of string through it. Tie a knot in the string on the underneath of the cup so that it hangs out the end you would drink out of. Then dampen one of the tissues / pieces of kitchen towel and slide it down the string (you have to squeeze it quite hard). it will make a noise which sounds a bit like quacking.
The sciencey bit is that the sound travels up the string and vibrates around the cup, making it louder. No idea why it sounds like quacking, however.
What you need: some tissues / kitchen roll, a couple of forks, a plastic cup (the kind you have at parties), a pot of water, some string and some scissors. Oh, and a table.
Experiment 1: tie one of the forks onto the end of a piece of string. Hold the other end of the string onto your ear - you have to push quite firmly, but don't put the string actually into your ear. Then swing the fork at the bottom so it hits the edge of the table. The fork will make a thudding noise to everyone else but to the person holding the string on their ear they will hear chiming like church bells. The sciencey bit is that because the molecules in a solid (ie the string) are more closely packed together than those in a gas (ie the air) they carry the sound much better and less is lost between the fork and your ear.
Experiment 2: make a hole in the bottom of the plastic cup and put a piece of string through it. Tie a knot in the string on the underneath of the cup so that it hangs out the end you would drink out of. Then dampen one of the tissues / pieces of kitchen towel and slide it down the string (you have to squeeze it quite hard). it will make a noise which sounds a bit like quacking.
The sciencey bit is that the sound travels up the string and vibrates around the cup, making it louder. No idea why it sounds like quacking, however.
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