Supplies and Materials
Find 6-8 identical glass containers (glasses, pop bottles, jars…)
Assembly
Fill them with different amounts of water. Add food colouring if you like.
Two ways to play them:
"Hit" the sides of the containers. Sound will vibrate in the glass, so the amount of water in the bottle is the “length” of your instrument.
"Blow" across, not into, the openings of the bottles. Sound will vibrate in air so the amount of air, not water, in the bottle is the “size” of your instrument.
I Wonder...
If there's lots of air in the bottle, is the sound higher or lower? If there is only a small amount of air in the container, is the sound higher or lower?
How does this compare to other instruments you know about, like Boomwhackers or a wooden xylophone?
Do longer instruments produce lower sounds? or shorter instruments?
Can you research why this instrument works to produce sounds and why the sounds are different depending on their length?
See if you can explain the science behind your homemade instrument to a family member.
To see the experiment, you can also visit : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at5hnotr1vo