Guitar (explanation)

Sound travels through the air and water. It is the fastest known “thing” in the world. Sound is a vibration, made up of the air molecules surrounding you. Music is the best type of sound. To make music, we use musical instruments. One of the most well known instruments, is the guitar.

There are 6 strings and 12 notes on a guitar. Its kind of pear shaped. On each side of the guitar, there are curves. These curves are there to fit comfortably into the shape of your leg. The other curve is for your arm, so whenever your arm gets tired you can just rest your arm while you're strumming.

When you pick a string on your guitar, you’ll notice that it sounds a bit shaky. Thats because the sound reflects off of the hood of the guitar, and causes a vibration. Also known as, echoes.

Every guitar has a neck. Thats where the metal strings belong. If you place your finger on a fret you’ll notice that the pitch has just changed. The pitch gets higher every time you move your finger up, when you move it down, the pitch will obviously go lower.

I’ve been playing guitar for as long as I can remember. I know how to play about 20+ songs. My dad taught me how to play. He never really told me how the sound is made. So now I can go home and brag about how I knew this before him.

Article Summary.

I’ve recently read an article about “SONAR”. Sonar stands for, sound navigation and ranging. Sonar is a type of machine used underwater to find lost objects such as, shipwrecks. The machine sends out a sound wave, when the sound wave hits the object, it reflects off of it. Sonar can detect how far the object is by sensing how long it took for the sound wave to get back to them. Although, there are negatives to this machine. Sonar can interfere with Marine life. This is also known as, sound pollution. All animals have a unique way of communicating. Whales communicate with what we know as, "whale songs". This is their own type of sonar. It helps them hunt for food, as the ocean is so dark, you can't see a thing. The reason our sonar interferes with the whales sonar, is because its really loud. And whales have really sensitive hearing. This causes whales to swim up to the surface to quickly, which causes decompression. Decompression can cause internal bleeding and hearing loss. When the whales run out of air, they pass out. Then, the whales float to shore.

Immersion Assembly.

“Give it up for....Team 1!” Mr Burt yelled. A movie started playing on the projector. The movie was about how Zookeepers keep their animals safe, compared to how us humans keep ourselves safe. At the zoo, there’s these awesome magnetic doors. So everytime someone was to walk in, someone can turn off the magnetic force. Then turn it back on, to keep the animals safe.“Put your hands together for....Team 2!” Team 2’s item was based on “flight”. Ms Eddie was dressed up as an olden day kind of plane. Their item was basically about, “I like to move it, move it.” It was also about how planes fly. And how they work. It was team 3’s turn. They had put together an item about colors. This item was by far my favourite. It was about how colors work. And how they travel. It was really cool! Team 4 was up next. This item was pretty interesting. It was about flotation, positive and negative. They had 3 objects. Team 4 was asking which one would float, and which one would sink. There was a paper clip, a brick and a rock. The paper clip would sink. I think. And the brick as well. But the rock would float. Team 5’s item was most annoyingest item ever! It was a video about sound. All team 5 teachers were in a movie playing different types of instruments.

Paper Experiment.

Science experiment:

Question: What will happen to the sound if I change the shape of a piece of paper? (e.g. from a flat shape to a funnel shape) There was no change between the flat piece of paper and the funnel. Because, there were ways for the sound to be heard clearly. Like hollow pieces.

Links to research about Sound:

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/robotzoo/guide/bats_and_echoes.htm

Hypothesis: (What do you think will happen?) e.g. I think that….

When you put the funnel to one side you would only be able to hear that side.

Materials needed:

Paper, tape  and a couple of tissues.

Experiment (procedure):

e.g. Step 1 - First hold a flat piece of paper against your ear. Block your other ear with your hand. Get your partner to speak to you. What is the sound like? Sounds normal. Can you hear clearly? Yes

Step 2 - Next, roll the piece of paper into a funnel shape. Put the funnel against your ear. Face the funnel towards your partner and listen to them speak. What does it sound like? It sounds . Can you hear clearly? Yes

Step 3 - Next, face the funnel to the side while your partner is speaking. What was different about this? It sounded like my partner was far away. I could hear all the background noise.

Step 4 - After that, fill your funnel with tissue or cotton. Did this make a difference? Yes, it did. It sounded like something was blocking my partner.

Step 5 - Next, roll your piece of paper up to make a cylinder like shape. What difference did this make? No difference really. It just sounded like I was tunnel.

Data (What happened?)

	Shape/object/materials	Results:
1	flat piece of paper	It could've been clearer.  But it didn't really make a difference.
2	funnel facing to the front towards partner	It sounder really clear. But there was a bit of echo.
3	funnel facing to the other side	It sounded like my partner was really far away.
4	cotton ball blocking funnel	It sounded....blurry??
5	rolled up piece of paper (facing to the front)	It was really loud, and I could hear all the background noise.
6	rolled up piece of paper (facing to the side)	I could hear loud and clear.

Observations: My first experiment was with the flat piece of paper.

I rolled up my piece of paper into a funnel shape, and taped it. I asked Porscha to speak to me, and it sounded like I was inside of a tunnel.

Conclusion: My hypothesis was wrong. I could hear both sides. Besides all the background noise, I could hear my partner really clearly.

Straw oboe

Science experiment:

Question: What will happen to the sound if I cut the straw shorter and blow through it?

Links to research about Sound:

http://www.universetoday.com/61166/what-is-sound/

http://www.sciencekidsathome.com/science_topics/what_is_sound.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oElbMctAVlY&safe=active

Hypothesis: (What do you think will happen?) e.g. I think that….The sound will go up. It’ll go a little bit higher every time I cut the straw shorter.

Materials needed: A straw and scissors.

Experiment (procedure):

e.g. Step 1 - Crease straw on one end.

Step 2 - Cut creased straw into triangle shape. Blow air into the cut end.

Step 3 - Listen to the sound it makes. Record it.

Step 4 - Cut straw shorter.

Step 5 - Blow on cut end. Listen and Record.

Data (What happened?)

15cm:	Made a sound.
10cm:	The sound was higher.
5cm:	The pitch was even higher.

Observations: At first, it didn’t make a sound, but then I gently blew on it, and it straight away made a sound. For every piece of straw I cut off, the pitch got higher, and squeakier. It sounded exactly like a birthday party horn. Even though there were two materials needed, it was pretty complex.

Conclusion:

My hypothesis was right because the sound went a little bit higher every time I cut the straw shorter.