The assignment was to build a wind instrument, a string instrument, and a chime instrument that could play a whole octave based on measurements of sound waves, which are all created by vibrations. I made a chime instrument (xylophone) which makes sound by hitting different lengths of metal pipe with a wooden stick. Before building our instrument, we had to create a blueprint with measurements.
Content:
Amplitude- the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium
Wave length- the distance between successive crests of a wave
Frequency- the number of crests of a wave that move past a given point in a given unit of time
Velocity- rate of distance covered in a direction
Period- the time required for one complete cycle of vibration to pass a given point
Hertz- the SI unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second
Constructive interference- when two waves line up in a way that doubles the frequency
Destructive interference- when two opposite waves line up in a way that cancels each other out
Transverse wave- a wave vibrating at right angles to the direction of its propagation
Longitudinal wave- a wave vibrating in the direction of propagation
Crest- the highest point in the wave
Trough- the lowest point in a wave
Compression- a region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are closest together Rarefaction- a region in a longitudinal wave where the particles are furthest apart
Reflection:
This was personally one of my favorite projects because I can play a couple different instruments so I understood the project more and this was more fun for me than some of the past projects. The most difficult part of the project in my opinion was calculating and finding the exact measurements the metal pipes needed to be to create an octave. I feel like I was better on my work ethic and cooperation in this project, because I worked really hard and I think my instrument turned out well. One thing I wished I was better with was how I managed my time. Even though I finished my project with time to spare, I would still sometimes get off task.