Description
Explore the Science of Sound with vinyl strips that talk!
Note: Cup not included.
Talkie tape
These talkie tapes – sound strips – work like a vinyl record, using your thumb as the needle to make sound. You just have to rub lightly down the length of the strip to hear the message “Science is Fun!”
This hands on activity includes:
- 1 sound strip
Secrets for Success
- Pinch the strip near at its pointed end using your non-writing hand
- Maintaining the pinch, grasp the tape with your writing hand so that your thumb nail can be pressed against the side of the tape that has the bumps.
- Pull the tape through your thumbnail – forefinger so that your thumbnail passes across the bumps
- Experiment with the thumbnail pressure and the pull speed to hear the message SCIENCE IS FUN!
- To amplify the sound emitted hold the strip again the side of a paper or plastic cup or against any other amplifier such as a sheet of paper, a balloon, a foam cup, or a desk. Which surface gives the greatest amplification?
- Does the size of the sheet of paper or the volume of the cup affect the volume?
Science in a Nutshell
Sound is created and transmitted through the air by vibrations. As your fingers slide across the strip, they create small vibrations. The sound created by the vibrations is then amplified by the cup, creating the strange speaking sound.
The Sound ribbon works on a similar principle to gramophone records, using grooves to store sound albeit in a linear manner opposed to a spiral. The tapes come pre-moulded.
The storage capacity is determined by the length of the strip and speed at which the user pulls their fingernail over the grooves. Tapes are typically only long enough to store a short sentence, up to around 3 seconds long. However, there is no physical limitation on length: the tape could theoretically be wound onto a spool and played back like a wire recording.
Each strip can be played back many times until the grooves wear out.
Want to investigate sound a little more? Click on this link: Investigating Sounds or Fuaimeanna a Fhiosrú
