How to See Sound Experiments for Kids

Sound vibrations

This month’s homework packet included a lesson about sound vibrations. Let’s start from the beginning, with the question:

What is sound?

Sound waves are formed when a vibrating object causes matter around it to vibrate. When the sound waves reach the ear they make the ear drum vibrate too. Those vibrations travel further and cause waves in the inner ear fluids. These waves make the tiny hairs inside the ear bend. Movement of the hair cells sends signals to our brain where they are translated into meaningful sounds.

If you want to learn more about sound and all of our senses I highly recommend reading “The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses”.

Can we see sound?

We can’t see sound itself with our bare eyes. But we can see the vibrations the sound creates.

Before starting our experiments we watched a couple of YouTube videos on How our ears work as well as a few wacky, but fun things to do with sound (at Spangler ScienceTV).

Let’s get started with our “how to see sound experiments for kids”!

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Experiment 1 – “Dancing Rice”

For this experiment you’ll need:

• bowl
• plastic cling wrap
• uncooked rice
• wooden spoon
• tray or empty cereal box (banging to make noise=create sound vibrations)
• protective ear muffs or ear plugs

For the second variation of the “dancing rice” you’ll also need:

• sub woofer with music
• candles

How to See Sound Step-by-step

3) Hold your tray or empty cereal box close to the rice and hit hard to make noise. Watch as the rice jumps up and down from the sound waves created!

WARNING! PUT YOUR SPEAKERS ON LOW VOLUME BEFORE YOU OPEN THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS!

Put on protective ear muffs or ear plugs. Now try to put the bowl in front of a sub woofer and look for some music with lots of bass. Turn up the volume.  See what happens!

The Rice starts “dancing”!

Experiment 2 -Can the Sound Waves Blow out Candles?

Now if you put a row of lit candles in front of the sub woofer; what do you think will happen when you turn on the music? YOU might have to turn the music up really LOUD, so DON’T FORGET YOUR EARPLUGS!

Can we Feel Sound?

The answer is “YES”. If you have been in a room where very load music is played (a concert for example) you might have felt the music. We can actually feel the sound of the bass in our body. The reason for feeling the bass is that the low pitched sound waves are long and slow, but thick. The high pitched notes have short, but relatively thin waves. It takes longer for the low notes to travel through your body, so to speak.

If you are interested in learning more about sound waves or our senses, there are many fun and exciting experiments out there. These are just a couple. Sarah at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls is doing similar experiments using salt. She and her kids also try to put a speaker INSIDE the bowl to see what happens.

As always; have fun with it and share your experiences in the comments below.

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