ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Amplifying the sound of a plucked slinky with a chunk of open celled craft
foam is always a great head scratcher. The open cells make a wonderful
sounding board. You can also use a stretched slinky to demonstrate
compression waves.  Sound is very often depicted as a sine wave and this is
a great way to show how sound really travels.  If you rest the slinky on a
smooth surface and have the tension correct you can even show echoes.

Ruebens tubes are great but they can strengthen misconceptions about the
physics of sound.  They end up showing the sound as a sine wave rather than
a compression wave.  This can be explained away, but if you already have the
notion of sound traveling as a sine wave its pretty tricky.  One thing I
used to do was have several audience members come up and draw a picture of
sound and address this misconception right from the start of the show.  Then
when you bust out the ruebens tube you can talk about how the flames are
lower due rarefaction and that their height just happens to line up with a
mathematical description of a compression wave.

Now for the Guantanamo section of this message.

I love luring children in to watch closely as I submerse the end of a
ringing tuning fork into a glass of water and splashing their little faces.
Mu, HA,ha,ha!  Touching a child on the tip of the nose with a ringing tuning
fork is also great fun.  For some reason that has not been fully explained
to me yet it sets up a tickling sensation in your nose that will not go away
until you give it a good rub.  I would torture the little ones by telling by
asking them to see how long they could last with out rubbing their nose.
Nobody lasts longer than a couple of seconds. Its hilarious!

You can always explode a pure hydrogen balloon and compare the sound to one
that has a couple of breaths of air mixed in.  Due to the increased speed of
combustion the hot gases inside and around the balloon expands faster and
compress much more giving you less fire but a bigger boom.


Paul Dougherety did an awesome demo with corrugated tubes at ASTC a few
years ago I would contact him to get the details.

Mike



Mike Levad
Lead Exhibit Developer
651-789-4735 (direct)
651-631-2211 xt.735
651-631-0707fax    
Toll free: 800-433-9599
[log in to unmask]
www.splitrockstudios.com


On 8/12/09 4:44 PM, "Erich Rose" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> One of my favorites that deals with the speed of sound involved about 200 ft
> of flexible hose with the ends adjacent to each other. You made a sound into
> one and the delay was quite noticeable when it came out the other.  I believe
> I saw this at Sciencenter in Ithaca.  It took some space (maybe 64 cubic
> feet?) but was still quite manageable.
> 
> 
> ---- Skoshi Wise <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>> institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>> 
>> Hello,
>> We are planning our new "show" for the upcoming school year.  We were
>> considering a show on Sound.  If you have a fantastic Sound show, I would
>> love to hear from you.  Besides the Ruben's Tube, are there some other
>> Wow-y, super cool demos, or is this a difficult one to make exciting?
>> 
>> If we don't go with Sound, I'd love some suggestions.  We have Combustion,
>> Liquid Nitrogen, Chemistry and Air.  What are your favorite shows and demos?
>> 
>> Thanks in advance for any feedback!
>> 
>> -- 
>> Skoshi Wise
>> Director of Education
>> ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum
>> 541.482.6767 ext. 26
>> 
>> ***********************************************************************
>> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the
>> Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>> 
>> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
>> www.exhibitfiles.org.
>> 
>> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To
>> learn more, visit
>> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
>> 
>> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
>> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
>> [log in to unmask]
> 
> --
> Erich Rose
> Exhibit, Environmental and Industrial Design
> 807 The Living End
> Austin, TX 78746
> 512-626-9930; [log in to unmask]
> 
> ***********************************************************************
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the
> Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
> 
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
> www.exhibitfiles.org.
> 
> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To
> learn more, visit
> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
> 
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
> [log in to unmask]
> 

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]