Music and sound are two different concepts that share much in common. Determining the difference between the two can sometimes be difficult due to the subjective nature of deciding what is or is not music. The goal of this activity is to...

Echolocation is the ability to orient by transmitting sound and receiving echoes from objects in the environment. As a result of a Marco-Polo type activity and subsequent lesson, students learn basic concepts of echolocation. They use...

Students use ultrasonic sensors and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots to emulate how bats use echolocation to detect obstacles. They measure the robot's reaction times as it senses objects at two distances and with different sensor threshold...

This science fair project shows you how to transform a noisy piece of metal into a sound-muffling constrained-layer damper. You will record the sound of a controlled impact on a piece of metal with a microphone, a computer, and some free...

Can you muffle the sound of a jingle bell using a variety of Christmas-themed items? Explore your sense of hearing in this simple activity. Includes a video of Gemini astronauts playing Jingle Bells while in space in 1965. [1:22]

To further their understanding of sound energy, students identify the different pitches and frequencies created by a vibrating ruler and a straw kazoo. They create high- and low-pitch sound waves.

Students learn the decibel reading of various noises and why high-level readings damage hearing. Sound types and decibel readings are written on sheets of paper, and students arrange the sounds from the lowest to highest decibel levels....

In this lesson, students learn about echolocation: what it is and how engineers use it to "see" things in the dark, or deep underwater. Also, they learn how animals use echolocation to catch their dinner and travel the ocean waters and...

In this activity, students work with partners to create four different instruments to investigate the frequency of the sounds they make. Students may chose to make a shoebox guitar, water glass xylophone, straw panpipe or a soda bottle...

Young scholars are introduced to chemical engineering and learn about its many different applications. They are provided with a basic introduction to matter and its different properties and states. An associated hands-on activity gives...

Students are given a variety of materials and asked to identify if each material as a solid, liquid or gas. They use their five senses - sight, sound, smell, texture and taste - to identify the other characteristics of each item.

This lesson introduces the concepts of longitudinal and transverse waves. Young scholars see several demonstrations of waves and characterize them by transverse and longitudinal behavior. This lesson also introduces the Sunken Treasure...

Article describing the history and the construction of a harp. Includes a music sample, and an interactive harp. (Published Fall 2004)

This site is provided for by Michigan Reach Out. Students experiment with the variables of force, pitch and volume after making a drum.

Using their knowledge of physics, students will build a wind chime. Mathematical computations will be done to determine the length of the pipes.

Through nine lessons, students are introduced to a range of energy types--electrical, light, sound and thermal-as well as the renewable energy sources of wind, hydro (water) and solar power. Subjects range from understanding that the...

Demonstrations explain the concepts of energy forms (sound, chemical, radiant [light], electrical, atomic [nuclear], mechanical, thermal [heat]) and states (potential, kinetic).

After completing an associated lesson, students test their understanding in two programming tasks that utilize LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and sound/touch sensors. Students gain practice in the iterative design-program-test-redesign process.

A collection of video lectures from a physics for science and engineering course taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The course discusses the concepts of mechanics, wave motion, sound, heat and thermodynamics in thirty-five...

Lighting is responsible for nearly one-third of the electricity use in buildings. One of the best ways to conserve energy is to make sure the lights are turned off when no one is in a room. This process can be automated using motion...

Students' understanding of how robotic ultrasonic sensors work is reinforced in a design challenge involving LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and ultrasonic sensors.

Students learn how ultrasonic sensors work, reinforcing the connection between this sensor and how humans, bats, and dolphins estimate distance.

Discover how an engineer uses ultrasound to focus and aim sound waves with the "Audio Spotlight" that he developed.

This resource provides pictures and other information to show just what breaking the sound barrier means.