ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Fast and Easy Science Fair Projects: Singin' in the Shower

Updated on December 30, 2019
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Tape MeasureCassette tape (or) CD player
Tape Measure
Tape Measure
Cassette tape (or) CD player
Cassette tape (or) CD player

Acoustics: the behavior of confined sound

Purpose: To find out if different rooms in your house have different acoustics (sound qualities).

Overview: A branch of physics that studies the physics of sound is called "acoustics." You often hear the word acoustics when someone is talking abour the characteristics od sound in a particular place. Smooth, hard surfaces reflect sound waves off the object. Hardwood floors, walls, and glass are examples of things that reflect sound. Other materials absord (soak up) sound waves instead of reflecting them, or do not reflect all of the sound that strikes them. These include carpenting, curtains, and couches.

     When sound reflects off objects, it can create either an echo or a reverberation. An echo is a distinct repeat of a sound. When sound bounces off an object far away, an echo is often heard, such as shouting into a high cliff. The farther away the reflecting object is, the longer will be the delay between a shout and the echo. A short echo may be heard if you stand far back from the side of a brick building, such as your school might have, face the large brick or concrete wall, and give a sharp yell.

     The term reverberation, or simply reverb, is used to describe the sound of thousands rather than seperate distinguishable sounds. It is caused by sound bouncing many times off different objects. You will hear a reverb effect if you talk in an empty room that has bare walls and floor. Some sound will bounce only once before reaching your ear, while other sound may bounce from wall to wall two, three, or several times before they reach your ear.

     Reverberation and echoes can make listening difficult when a person is speaking, as a lecturer in a large hall or a pastor in a church would do; but a little reverb can make some kinds of music sound more interesting giving them a fuller sound.

     Rooms in libraries and hospitals are places where architects and builders try to reduce the reverberation of sound so as to keep the rooms quieter. Theaters are designed to keep sound from bouncing around, so that a person speaking on stage can be more easily heard and understood.

     Where you live, the room that probably reflects sound the most is the bathroom and in that room, the shower is the most reverberant. Have you noticed that effect?

Hypothesis: A sound recording made in a bathroom, which has a lot of effective surfaces, will sound different from a recording mafe in a room with heavily furnished and carpeted.

You need:

  • portable battery-operated cassette tape or CD player
  • portable battery-operated cassette tape recorder with built-in microphone
  • blank casssette tape
  • tape or CD with your favorite song in it
  • bathroom that is not carpeted or an uncarpeted kitchen or long empty hall
  • a room with carpenting, window drapes, and unholstered furniture or cloth material (such as a couch or bed)
  • tape measure

Procedure: Place a battery-operated tape recorder on the floor of a bathroom, a kitchen, or any room that does not have a carpet and unholstered furniture. Place a battery-operated tape or CD player on the floor of the same room at a distance of six feet or more. Put a blank tape in the recorder. Put a music tape or CD containing your favorite song in the player. Start recording on the tape recorder, and play the song on the other player. Let the recorder and player run for about one minute. Stop them both. If you are using music tape, rewind it back to the beginning.

     Set up the two machines in another room, one that is carpeted, has drapes on the windows, and has a bed with covers or has upholstered furniture, as you would find in a living room. Place the tape machines at the same distance from each other. The song, the tape machines, and the distance apart are kept Constant. The Variable is the environment the recorders are in. Again, start recording on the one machine and play the song on the other. After one minute, stop the tapes and rewind both of them.

     Listen to the recording you made. Compare the "acoustics" or sound qualities of each recording. Write down a description of both rooms and the things that are contained in them.

Results & Conclusion: Write down the results of your experiment. Come to a conclusion as to whether or not your hypothesis was correct.

Something more: 1. Lift the lid of a washing machine and give a yell, then kneel in front of the couch and yell; descibe the difference in the two sounds.

2. Compare a recording made inside the house and one made outside.


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)