This is a fun STEM activity which Ella loved! It's super easy to do and provides a whole host of learning.
WHAT YOU NEED:
Glasses (glass milk bottles are good) of various shapes and size.
Coloured water.
A spoon.
WHAT TO DO:
Fill the glasses with different amounts of water and tap on the glasses with a spoon. Do they make different sounds? Which one's are higher pitched and which one's are lower?
Can you make up a tune? Can you put them in sound order from high to low?
How do different size glasses or glasses of different thickness sound?
Ella used a measuring jug to measure out the water and decide how much she might use for all the glasses. She tried various combinations with different sized glasse, keeping a note of her measurements.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Sound is created by vibrations.
When you hit the side of the glass with the spoon the glass vibrates. When you add water to the glass the water acts as a dampener. It causes the vibrations to slow down. When things vibrate fast they produce a sound at a higher pitch, when they vibrate slower they will produce a sound with a lower pitch.
With musical water glasses, when there is more water in the glass, the pitch of the sound produced is lower because the water has caused the glass to vibrate slower. When there is a smaller amount of water in the glass the pitch is higher because the glass is vibrating faster.
Let me know if you do this activity and how your kids found it. Post a video of their 'tunes' in the comments!
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