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Lagging Sound
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In this group activity, learners see and hear the speed of sound. A learner designated the "gonger" hits a gong, once every second, as the rest of the group watches and listens from a distance.
Cup Speaker
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Make your own speaker with a magnet, wire, and paper cup! If you have a radio with a headphone plug and an old pair of headphones, this is a great tinkering activity.
Straw Oboe: Two lips make sound
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Oboes's unique sound originates from the two small reeds a musician blows into. Make your own double reed instrument out of straw!
Make a Speaker: A Coil, a Magnet, and Thou
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Make your own simple speaker so you can listen to your favorite radio station. Just wind a coil, attach it to a piece of cardboard or Styrofoam, hold a magnet nearby, and listen.
Bee Hummer
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In this activity, learners investigate sound and vibration by making a "bee hummer"--a toy that sounds like a swarm of buzzing bees when you spin it around.
Anti-Sound Spring
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What happens when two wave pulses meet in the middle? Send waves down a spring to watch them travel and interact.
Stereo Sound
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We listen to stereo music systems, tv's, and radios because it simulates being where the sound originates.
Falling Rhythm
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Listen to the beat of gravity. By taking two strings with weights tied to them at different, yet uniform intervals, you can hear the uniformity (and rhythm) of gravity's accelerating pull.
Make Your Own Rainstick
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In this activity, leaners build their very own rainsticks, an instrument filled with pebbles and seeds that create sounds like falling rain. Save costs by using material found around the home.
Pipes of Pan
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Create an instrument that you don't play--you just listen to it through tubes of various lengths.
Sound Sandwich
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With a straw, two craft sticks, and some rubber bands, construct a noisemaker called a Sound Sandwich and explore how vibration produces sound.
Vocal Visualizer
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With a bit of PVC, a laser, a can/cup, and a small mirror, you can make a device that visualizes you voice or any sound transmitted into the cup/can.
Organ Pipe: Get Bach to the fundamentals
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If you got a big graduated or clear cylinder, water, a pipe, and a tuning fork, you've got a sound learning opportunity! Learn about resonance with this Exploratorium Science Snack.
Conversation Piece
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Focus sound through a balloon! In this Exploratorium activity, you'll use dry ice to create a balloon that's a sound lens.
Waterbottle Membranophone
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In this activity, you'll use a straw, a water bottle and a paper tube to make an instrument that's very much like a saxophone.
Doppler Effect
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Sound changes pitch relative to how you or the source of the sound is moving. Use this simple activity developed by the Exploratorium to experience the Doppler Effect yourself!
Cuica (Laughing Cup): Make a Musical Instrument
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In this activity, you'll use a paper cup, a piece of cloth, and some string to make a musical instrument called a cuica (pronounced KWEE-kah).
Groovy Sounds
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In this activity related to music and sound vibrations, learners make a phonograph or record player out of simple materials. First, learners assemble the turntable, arm, and sound cone.
Modulated Coil: Hear the magnet!
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Do you have an extra portable cassette tape player hanging around?