Funnel ear

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)

Links to research about Sound:

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound

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

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/sound-wave

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-sound-energy.html

http://whatissoundenergy.com/

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

The sound will get blurrier every time the hole narrows.

Materials needed:

Paper, Tissue, Tape

Experiment (procedure):

e.g. Step 1 - Hold a flat piece of paper by your ear. Cover your opposite ear with your hand. Get your friend to speak to you. What’s the sound like?

Step 2 - Roll the piece of paper into a funnel shape. Once again, put the funnel against your ear. Face the funnel towards your partner and listen to them speak. What does it sound like?

Step 3 - Face the funnel to the side while your partner speaks to you. Did it make a difference to the sound that you can hear?

Step 4 - Put some cotton balls or tissue paper into the funnel at one end. Is there a difference?

Data (What happened?)

	Shape/object/materials	Results:
1	flat piece of paper	Normal sort sound. No difference at all.
2	funnel facing to the front	Normal sort sound. It sounded a bit clearer than before.
3	funnel facing to the side	The sound got blurrier.
4	cotton ball blocking funnel	Strangely, but true, it remained normal
5	rolled up piece of paper (facing to the front)	It sounded much clearer.
6	rolled up piece of paper (facing to the side)	Sounded more echoey this time.

Observations:    When the paper was flat, it was normal.  When it was a funnel facing forwards, it sounded a wee bit clearer than before. When it was still the funnel facing forwards, it sounded a bit blurrier.

With the cotton inserted, the sound returned to normal. No difference. When the paper was rolled up facing the front, it sounded much clearer. And when it was facing the side, the sound was projected and it sounded echoey.

Conclusion:

In the end our hypothesis was wrong. The sound remained normal. Most of the time there wasn’t much difference.