Drumming Experiment Lab Report

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Drumming Experiment Ahmet Tibik Introduction: A drum is a musical instrument played by the striking of hands or sticks. It is played individually and can be hit on the sides for a higher pitched sound or smacked in the middle for a low pitched sound (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum Last edited, today 29th of October). The sound waves travel through the drum and reach our ear vibrating in the air. Aim: Which different sized cup will make a higher or a lower pitched sound. Hypothesis: To analyse whether the changing of cups will change the frequency as the surface area and volume will differ per change. The wave equation Velocity=Frequency/Wavelength (www.ajdesigner.com/phpsound/sound_wave_equation_length_frequency.php Last edited,2015.) …show more content…

Variables: Dependent variable: The cup number, 1-4. Independent variable: Frequency measured in hertz (Hz). Controlled variables: Strength of the hit. Strength of the paper, background noise and stable microphone. Materials: Small plastic cup (10.5cm tall, 9.8cm diameter), Big plastic cup (13cm tall, 9.8cm diameter), Small round plastic container (6cm tall, 11.8cm diameter), Large round plastic container (11cm tall, 11.8cm diameter), Baking paper to cover the all four cups, Rubber bands to keep the baking paper on the cup, a pen to smack the drums, Spectrum Analyzer app on an IOS device from the AppStore to record the frequency. Method: 1. Name the cups 1-4 smallest to biggest. 2. Grab one of the cups and wrap baking paper around it. 3. Use a rubber band to secure the baking paper on the cup. 4. Repeat steps 1-3 until every cup is done. 5. Open the Spectrum Analyzer app in IOS device. 6. Hit the cup, press the pause button on the Analyzer app and take a screenshot. 7. Repeat step 6 until every cup is done. 8. Inspect the graph and record the results on a table. Results: Discussion: After numbering our cups 1-4 I was expecting 1 to be the highest pitch and 4 to be the lowest pitch.I thought this due to the fact that 1 had the lowest surface area and the lowest …show more content…

These results could be inaccurate and be caused by other issues such as the imperfectness of the Spectrum Analyzer iPad app as the iPad microphones are simple microphones used to record usual sounds imperfectly. If it is used for measuring frequency perfectly, a tool designed for the job will be a lot better, for example a Frequency Meter. If we had access to this tool we could have gotten perfect results and correct hypothesis. Also plastic isn't the best material to be used for measuring frequency and it is a lot easier to be measured on glass as it is stable and can allow vibrations to travel accurately without the energy being wasted on the cup vibrating too much. Conclusion: This experiment was a good teaching for us to learn more about the sound waves, but there were downs as this experiment wasn't too accurate due to the inaccuracy of the Spectrum Analyzer app and the use of plastic over glass didn't allow the frequency to be more accurate. References: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum Last edited, today 29th of October by Ababcdc1. www.ajdesigner.com/phpsound/sound_wave_equation_length_frequency.php Last edited,2015 unknown by

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