Make these instruments to understand the science of sound
Sound is an audible vibration that moves in waves through a medium like air or water. Frequency and amplitude are the two most important qualities of sound. The pitch of a sound is determined by the frequency of the sound waves. The loudness of a sound is determined by its amplitude. The pitch and volume of the sound have an impact on its quality. Let us understand this through two simple, do-it-yourself activities.
Make your own drum
Introduce your kids to the world of sounds and their vibrations through this interesting activity.
What you’ll need
- Balloons
- Tin or plastic cans
- Duct tapes in different colours
- Stickers
- Scissors
- Chopsticks
- Wooden spoons
How-to
Get these on a table, call your child, and start the experiment. Here’s a step-by-step description of the experiment:
- Take two balloons in different colours and cut them such that they fit properly on the mouth of the cans. Look closely and you’d notice that the balloons could resemble swimming caps!
- Cover the tin or plastic cans with the balloons.
- Use a rubber band to hold the balloons in place. It should start to look like a drum. Cut off the extra balloon pieces from both the cans.
- Put different colours of the duct tape around both the drums to make it appealing.
- You can further decorate the different layers of duct tape with different kind of stickers on it.
- Tap each of the drums with chopsticks and wooden spoons. It produces a different sound.
How is the sound produced?
When an object such as the tin cans vibrate, a pressure wave is created, which produces sound. The particles in the surrounding medium (air, water, or solid) vibrate as a result of the pressure wave and produce their own sounds. Why is it so? This is because different objects have their own vibrational frequency and hence they produce diverse sounds such as those emitted by wooden spoons and chopsticks.
Make a recycled tambourine
Introduce your kids to the science of sounds through this interesting activity.
What you’ll need
- Cardboard
- Cake pan
- Caps- of soft drink bottles
- Hole puncher
- A long nail
- Hammer
- Black marker pen
- Scissors
- Wire
How-to
Get these on a table, call your child, and start the experiment. Here’s a step-by-step description of the experiment:
- Take a cardboard piece cut out as a square and place a cake pan on it.
- Draw a circle on the cardboard with the help of a black marker pen.
- Using a pair of scissors, cut the circle from the cardboard sheet. Trim the edges of the circle properly.
- Mark eight points on the circular cardboard where the tambourine bells woud jingle. Punch these points with the hole puncher.
- Further, punch the bottle caps with a long nail and hammer.
- To attach the jingles, measure the wire’s length using the black pen marker. Cut eight such wires for the eight holes of the tambourine.
- Take two bottle caps, place them back to back and pass the wire through the holes punched in them. Tie the wires in each of the caps.
- Now, tie the jingles into the holes of the tambourine. Shake the tambourine to hear the sounds produced out of it.
What is happening in this experiment?
The tambourine's sound is created by striking it with the hand or occasionally with sticks or shaking or rubbing the tambourine with the fingers. When struck, the tambourine functions as a drum, and when shook, it functions as a rattle. Moreover, tambourines are smaller as compared to drums. Hence, it will have a smaller frequency than those of the drums.