Singing Glasses

Physics Behind It

As you rub your finger on the rim, your finger first sticks to the glass and then slides. This stick and slide action occurs in very short lengths and produces a vibration inside the glass which in turn produces a sound. As soon as the first few vibrations are produced, the glass resonates. That means the cause of crystals in the glass to vibrate together and create one clear tone. You can change the pitch by adding to or taking off from the amount of water in the glass. The volume can be changed by increasing or decreasing the pressure from your finger.

Materials

Wine Glass

Water

Procedure

1. Put water in the glass of wine

2. Wet your finger

3. Rub your finger on the rim and slide

Results

My results were that when you rub it and maintain it in a certain force the glass of wine would vibrate and the moment when you take off or insert more water the pitch would change from low to high.