This project taught us about sound waves and transverse waves. Each group was required to create at least three instruments. One instrument had to be a chime, the other a string, and the other a wind. We then had to tune each instrument and make sure it could play seven notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G). My group and I immediately started brainstorming designs for each instrument. We knew we wanted to create a guitar-like instrument for our string, so we designed it to be 30in long with 7 different strings at different lengths. Each string would play a different note, so we wouldn't have to place our fingers on the string to change the note. We changed our design for the chimes a lot. At first, we wanted to use bottles that we would fill with different amounts of water, and when hit they would make different notes. Then we discovered that the chimes wouldn't be loud enough if we just had them sitting on a flat surface. To fix this, we decided to make a stand that the bottles could hang from. We came across another problem after making the stand; it was very hard to make the bottles play different notes, because we had to add different amounts of water until it sounded right. Eventually, we decided to change the design, because we didn't have enough time to add or pour out water until it sounded good. Instead of the bottles, my group and I decided to use metal pipes as our chimes. This was much easier than the water bottles, because we could use a ratio to find the right length for each pipe. Our last instrument was the wind, this was the easiest instrument to make. At first my group wanted to make a recorder, because we didn't think a flute would work with a plastic PVC pipe, but we saw another group make a flute out of a PVC pipe and it sounded really good. We thought we would try a flute instead of a recorder, and it came together really nicely. It was very clear and made different notes easily.
Here is the written presentation we created:
Waves - transfer energy Transverse Wave -a wave whose motion is perpendicular to its direction of travel (sound waves, water waves)\ Longitudinal Wave - a wave whose motion is parallel to its direction of travel (light waves, any wave on the electromagnetic spectrum Wavelength - the distance from crest to crest, or trough to trough, of a wave (measured in meters) Amplitude - displacement from equilibrium to crest in a wave (measured in meters) Frequency - number of waves or vibrations in a unit of time (measured in waves/second) Period - time between waves or vibrations (measured in seconds) Velocity (Wave Speed) - the rate at which a wave travels (measured in meters/second)
I think that may group did very well on this project. Our final instruments all played the right notes and met the requirements. We did a good job designing and building our instruments, and we finished on schedule -- usually I am behind on finishing projects on time. I think that I could have done a better job staying positive on this project; I thought that my group was behind on our designs, because I saw other groups starting their instruments while we were still brainstorming. I got a little frustrated with my group, but they were all really nice about it and they helped me understand that we weren't behind. My group and I could have also done better at working together. I felt like we split into two separate groups and didn't work with each other as much as we should have. One way that I could improve this, is by speaking up and telling my group how I thought we were working. During the course of this project, I learned to take time to research your content. For our guitar, I had to look into what made it loud and prevented it from snapping. If I hadn't done this, our guitar may not have been loud enough to hear, and it may have broken from all the pressure we put on the neck. I also learned that when I manage my time well, it pays off. We didn't get as much time for this project as we have for others in the past. My group did a better job at staying on task and using our time wisely. This payed off, because when our teacher alerted us that we should be working on our papers, my group and I were able to.