Speaker
Description
Sound is a part of everyone's daily life. It is an oscillation produced from pressure waves
that travels through gases, liquids, and solids. Although sound and light are both waves,
sound waves are not visible to the human eye. This demo will visualize the frequencies
and amplitudes of sound waves by reflecting light off of a vibrating surface. To do this a
balloon is stretched onto an open end of a hollow cylindrical object with the other end
left uncovered. A mirror is placed onto the center of the balloon and a laser is focused
so that it will reflect off of the mirror and onto another surface. Then noise or a specific
frequency sent into the open end of the cylindrical object, causing the balloon and mirror
to vibrate. When this happens the laser that is reflected will move in patterns in
accordance with the mirror’s vibrations. Because sound waves oscillate in a specific
way to each frequency, this demonstration shows how those waves can be visualized
providing another way to observe and understand how they behave
