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Vibration, Amplification and the Distribution of Sound Waves
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The description below was contributed by: A visitor, on Feb 08, 2000 03:19:14PM

3 Star Project Idea Rating

Appropriate grades or age groups:
K - 8

Estimated time to complete this project:
One week.

Materials:
rubber band
shoebox
tuning fork
glass bowl
logbook
pencil

Instructions:
1) Research the science of sound, learning how sound travels through liquids and solids. Help your child have an understanding that sound is created through vibration. Hypothesize on what materials are good conductors of vibration and what would be needed to create an amplified sound. Look up vibration and amplification in the dictionary so that your child can use these terms correctly when recording data.

2) Hit a tuning fork and place it into a bowl of water. What does the water do? This is a visual experiment to show how sound travels. Record results.

3) Have your child place their ear on a wooden table. Have them scratch the table with their nail and listen. Now ask them to lift their ear from the table and scratch. Are there any differences? This is how they can understand the vibration of sound. Have a discussion of how the farther away you are from a sound, the harder it is to hear. Why is it so? Record results.

4. Your child is now ready to experiment with amplification. Stretch the rubber band out and pluck it with one finger from the other hand. Record your sound.

5) Have your child go around the house, finding objects with which to experiment with sound. Place thumb and one end of rubber band to an object (e.g., the floor, a table, lamp) and pluck the stretched rubber band. Record sounds. Which objects amplify sound best? Record results.

6) Take a box, face down, and stretch your rubber band, one thumb to the box. Stretch away perpendicularly against the box and pluck. Record results.

7) Make a chart showing how sound waves move through air.

8) Show your results by having props to present your observations.

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