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This week’s Saturday Science experiment, courtesy of Deceptively Educational, is music to our ears! Discover how sound waves make music by creating a straw flute. What song will you play?
Materials
- Nine straws
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Clear tape
Process
- Set aside the first straw—no cutting required.
- Line the second straw up against the ruler. Measure and cut two centimeters off the bottom of the straw.
- Line the third straw up against the ruler. Measure and cut four centimeters off the bottom of the straw.
- Repeat this process for straws four through nine, cutting two additional centimeters off the bottom of each straw (6, 8, 10, etc.).
- Lay a long piece of clear tape sticky side up on your table or work station.
- Stick the longest straw to the tape.
- Stick the second longest straw to the tape right next to the first. The tops of the straws should be even with each other.
- Repeat this process, longest straw to shortest, until all of the straws are stuck to the tape.
- Wrap the remaining tape around the straws so that the straws are secure.
- Play your straw flute by blowing air over each straw!
Summary
What sounds did your straw flute make? Which straws made a high-pitched sound? Which straws made a low-pitched sound?
Sound is a wave, a vibration traveling through the air to your ears. The way a sound wave sounds to your ear is known as its pitch. The wave that creates it is measured in frequency, or the number of sound waves that hit your ear in a certain amount of time. A high-pitched sound is made by a high-frequency wave and a low-pitched sound is made by a low-frequency wave.
If you vibrate solid objects they make the air around them vibrate, creating sound waves. This happens when you blow through the straws in your straw flute. The different lengths of each straw vibrate with different frequencies, creating different pitches of sound. These pitches create different notes that allow you to play a song.
If you want to really see this in action, pluck some strings on a guitar. You can watch them vibrate and see how the high, thin strings vibrate faster than the low, thick ones.
Did you know that different animals can make and hear different sounds than humans? Dogs and many other animals can hear pitches that are too high for our ears. Whales, when they sing their whale songs, sometimes create pitches that are way too low for human ears, but whales can hear them just fine for hundreds of miles across the ocean!
Want more Saturday Science? See all of our at-home activities on the blog or on Pinterest.
