Singing Bottles (Physics Experiments)

Are you a bathroom singer? Have you ever sung in the shower? If so, did some notes sound much louder than others? By varying your pitch, you can uncover notes that the room seems to boost. This amplification is a natural effect that is caused by the shape of the bathroom space. When you hit the right note, the walls seem to join in and vibrate with your voice!

Things Required:
Two empty and identical soft drink containers
A friend
Directions:
Place a soft drink container on a flat surface. Ask a friend to hold the other container several feet away. Instruct your friend to blow into the container to produce a low-pitched whistle.
After the whistle has sounded for several seconds, position your ear near the opening of the other container. What do you hear? How long does it last? Who started this tone?
This Is What Happens:
When your friend blew into the soft drink container, he or she produced a steady pitch. As this sound travelled outward from the “played” container, its waves struck the empty container. The empty container began to vibrate.
Since both containers were identical, they had the same built-in “pitch”. When struck by the “tuned” sound waves, the unplayed container responded and began to vibrate. The vibration was strong enough to produce a back-and-forth movement of the air trapped within this unplayed bottle. Soon, both bottles were producing the same pitch.

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