Children protesting: duty or danger?
disperse | catalyze | segregation | reform | injustice
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Think Scientifically
Think Scientifically
In 2020, people from all over the United States gathered in cities to protest injustice and call for police reforms. As the protests got bigger and bigger, police in some cities used stun grenades and other military equipment to disperse the crowds. Stun grenades produce a bright flash of light and loud sound that temporarily blinds and deafens people.
The human ear can detect sounds over a very large range of volumes. For example, your headphones at the maximum volume are 100,000,000 times louder than a whisper! The quietest sound that humans can hear is called the threshold of hearing (TOH). All other sounds are compared to the TOH. For example, the sound of normal breathing is 10 times louder than the TOH.
Fill in the chart and then make a bar graph to display the data.
Regular exposure for more than one minute to noises that are 10¹¹ times the TOH and louder can lead to permanent hearing loss. A stun grenade is 10¹⁷ times louder than the TOH. If stun grenades are so loud, why do you think they cause temporary (rather than permanent) deafness?
Discussion Question:
Exposure to loud sounds catalyzes hearing loss. Since police departments may use stun grenades to disperse crowds, should children be forced to stay away to protect their hearing? Or instead should police be prevented from using these devices? If children are willing to put themselves in danger to stand up against injustice, should parents stop them? What is more harmful to a child in the long term?
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