Make some music with glasses of water and a spoon. What are the different sounds you can make?
What you need:
- several glasses
- spoon
What to do:
- Put different amounts of water in each glass. For example, have one glass almost full, one glass half full, one glass almost empty, etc.
- Use the spoon to tap on the glasses, one at a time. What sounds do they make?
- Change the amounts of water in the glasses. How does this change the sounds? Can you get the glasses to make specific sounds to play songs?
What happens:
The glasses with different amounts of water make different sounds. We hear sounds because the air around us vibrates, carrying the sound to our ears. Hitting the glass causes it to vibrate and make a sound that we can hear. When a glass has little or no water in it, is has lots of air in it. Hitting this glass makes a higher pitch sound than the glass with lots of water. This is because the empty glass only has air around it, so the glass vibrates quickly when it is hit, causing the high pitch sound. The glass full of water causes the glass to vibrate slower, and the sound you hear is at a lower pitch.
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