In this project I had to work in a group with 3 other to make a musical instrument for the reed, chime and string family of instruments. The first thing we did was learn how each of the types of musical instruments work. Then we researched how to build each of the instruments we were planing on making. The next step was to construct our musical instruments. After this we would present how each of the instruments worked and show its full note range. Then we made a document explaining how each of the instruments worked.
concepts
wavelength: The distance between the same part of two waves that are beside each other examples being crest to crest or trough to trough. Wave length is measured in meters. Wavelengths variable is (λ) you can calculate it by using the equation λ = v/f
frequency: Number of waves in a unit of time. It's variable is (f) which can be found with the equations f = v/λ and f = 1/t. Frequency is measured in Hertz which is annotated as Hz.
wave speed: The speed or velocity of a wave. Its symbol is (v) you can the wave speed by using the equation v = D/t and v = f/λ and is measure in m/s.
period: Period is the amount of time between vibrations of a wave. Its variable is T and is it is measured in seconds. You can calculate period by using the equation T = 1/f
amplitude: Amplitude is the distance between between the center of the wave other wise known as equilibrium and its crest or trough. amplitude for sound waves is the volume of it with high amplitudes making louder noise. You cannot calculate the amplitude of a wave but it is measure in meters.
Wave types: there are 2 main types of waves longitudinal waves and transverse waves
longitudinal wave: This is the type of wave light falls in to. Longitudinal waves moves in the perpendicular to the direction it travels. Longitudinal waves are unique as they are able to travel without a medium and is general the fastest type of wave. These are also the type of wave you imagine when they are illustrated being the squiggly line.
transverse wave: This is the type of wave sound falls into. Transverse waves moves in the same direction as it is going and requires a medium to pass through. They move faster the denser the object they are moving through is as an example of this is how a sound wave through a metal pole move a lot faster than a shout. Transverse waves are produced by a change of pressure in a substance as it seaks equilibrium this can be done by either making a low or high pressure wave. with a complete wave including the wave going from one state going through all the required states and returning to its base like low pressure to neutral to high to neutral to low again.
frequency: Number of waves in a unit of time. It's variable is (f) which can be found with the equations f = v/λ and f = 1/t. Frequency is measured in Hertz which is annotated as Hz.
wave speed: The speed or velocity of a wave. Its symbol is (v) you can the wave speed by using the equation v = D/t and v = f/λ and is measure in m/s.
period: Period is the amount of time between vibrations of a wave. Its variable is T and is it is measured in seconds. You can calculate period by using the equation T = 1/f
amplitude: Amplitude is the distance between between the center of the wave other wise known as equilibrium and its crest or trough. amplitude for sound waves is the volume of it with high amplitudes making louder noise. You cannot calculate the amplitude of a wave but it is measure in meters.
Wave types: there are 2 main types of waves longitudinal waves and transverse waves
longitudinal wave: This is the type of wave light falls in to. Longitudinal waves moves in the perpendicular to the direction it travels. Longitudinal waves are unique as they are able to travel without a medium and is general the fastest type of wave. These are also the type of wave you imagine when they are illustrated being the squiggly line.
transverse wave: This is the type of wave sound falls into. Transverse waves moves in the same direction as it is going and requires a medium to pass through. They move faster the denser the object they are moving through is as an example of this is how a sound wave through a metal pole move a lot faster than a shout. Transverse waves are produced by a change of pressure in a substance as it seaks equilibrium this can be done by either making a low or high pressure wave. with a complete wave including the wave going from one state going through all the required states and returning to its base like low pressure to neutral to high to neutral to low again.
Reflection
This was one of the projects I was worried about doing in the beginning of the school year as I was never a fan of preforming an original musical piece but luckily for me I didn't have to and just got to do the science. This gave me a good chance to understand how the instruments worked without having to deal with fearing of a performance. One thing positive I learned during this project was the importance having many backup plans and not trying to force thing into working. I learned this when we were planing our build and me and my partner wanted to build a set of bag pipes so we looked up how to build one and how they worked and it turned out they were ridiculously difficult to make so we went to out back up plan of doing panpipes with PVC which turned out to work well as they could be played and not kill people with horrid noise (quickly). Another positive (debatable) thing I learned was how to play a the panpipes. I needed to learn how to do this as our group needed to show an example of our instrument being able to play a full note range of 7 and I was the only person who was willing to put up the time to play it and I learned how and became semi-good at playing them. Somethings I could improve on is my ability to speak my plans clearly as I had a couple of issues with say what I wanted to do and my teammates not understanding at all. An example of this being when I decided it wasn't worth doing the bagpipes but my partner continuing to try to do it anyway. Another issue I ran into was to make sure your measurements are very precise as I ran into an issue when I made the pan pipes as a couple of pipes were not the correct length so when i went to play they a hand full of them sounded almost exactly the same while other were completely different. Overall this project was very fun with the ability to creat and understand musical instruments being a very good experience