Build a Band
This project was a little different because we had to dig deep down into our musical talents. Which some of us didn't have. Luckily I had experience with playing the piano for six years, so I had a knowledge of musical notes and what they should sound like. Also in our group we had two other people in our group that have had almost a lifelong time of musical experience. When we heard about having a musical project, we were pretty excited. We started with figuring out who would do what instruments and what supplies we were going to need. We decided with making a pan flute, chimes, jar drums, and a ukulele.
Key Concepts
Doppler effect~when sound changes in frequencies because of movement of the sound relative to an object
Constructive Interference~when waves match up perfectly, making a bigger wave
Deconstructive Interference~cancel each other out (compression and rarefaction)
Refraction~one medium to another medium and bends direction
Wavelength~the distance from the top of one crest to the top of the next one(meters)
Amplitude~the distance from the mid-point to the crest of the wave
Frequency~how often a vibration occurs
Period~the time of a back and fourth swing(seconds)
Velocity(wave speed)~wave speed(wave length times frequency)
Hertz~the unit of frequency
Transverse Wave~motion at the right angles to the direction in which a wave travels
Longitudinal Wave~the particles move along the direction of the wave rather than it at right angles
Inference(constructive)~waves increase in amplitude
Inference(deconstructive)~the high part of one wave simply fills in the low parts of another
Nodes~in a standing wave certain parts of the rope, called nodes, remain stationary
Antinodes~the positions on a stationary wave with that largest amplitudes
Lens~piece of glass that bends light
Convergent~light rays come together
Divergent~light waves spread apart
Blue Shift~increase in frequency
Red shift~decrease in frequency
Doppler effect~when sound changes in frequencies because of movement of the sound relative to an object
Constructive Interference~when waves match up perfectly, making a bigger wave
Deconstructive Interference~cancel each other out (compression and rarefaction)
Refraction~one medium to another medium and bends direction
Wavelength~the distance from the top of one crest to the top of the next one(meters)
Amplitude~the distance from the mid-point to the crest of the wave
Frequency~how often a vibration occurs
Period~the time of a back and fourth swing(seconds)
Velocity(wave speed)~wave speed(wave length times frequency)
Hertz~the unit of frequency
Transverse Wave~motion at the right angles to the direction in which a wave travels
Longitudinal Wave~the particles move along the direction of the wave rather than it at right angles
Inference(constructive)~waves increase in amplitude
Inference(deconstructive)~the high part of one wave simply fills in the low parts of another
Nodes~in a standing wave certain parts of the rope, called nodes, remain stationary
Antinodes~the positions on a stationary wave with that largest amplitudes
Lens~piece of glass that bends light
Convergent~light rays come together
Divergent~light waves spread apart
Blue Shift~increase in frequency
Red shift~decrease in frequency
Reflection
This project was one of the most successful projects I've done. We all started out with dividing up who was going to do what instrument, then we all started working diligently to make a great final product. I worked on the pan flute which we decided to make out of yogurt bottles. I did some research and found out that I wanted to base my pan flute off the C4 scale, so I found a chart that showed my what lengths I needed so I could make eight different tubes. Each of the tubes was a different length to make a different sound. It was a little bit difficult cutting the yogurt bottles to make the different lengths. Since I needed to cut the yogurt tubes to make a quarter wave length, the yogurt bottle tubes didn't exactly get smaller by just taking one away, I had to cut them shorter. Luckily connecting the bottles was fairly easy, the bottoms fit snug on each other making sure no sound escaped. Once I finished building them all I decided to paint them to make them aesthetically pleasing. When the paint dried I connected them all together with a piece of wood. Something I learned about my self was I work very good in a group where everyone is willing to pitch in and know what to do, and help each other. I improved greatly upon my knowledge of how sound waves work with instruments. When I would play the piano I always wondered how the strings made different noises, but I just assumed that one day I would understand. Finally I can understand how waves travel through a medium transferring energy which can sometimes make harmonious non discordant musical sound. Some peaks of this project were our group worked really well together, like a well oiled machine. Also our instruments came out very successful, and we had a great song. Some pits of this project were I was sick for two days and I missed the song writing, which was very sad. Also another pit was in the end we were a little stressed with figuring out how to make our fourth instrument, but in the end we prevailed and made jar drums.