I’ve posted some interesting ways to actually physically see sound waves in the past, but here’s more scientific way done in a lab. The following videos are from the Naval Postgraduate Physics Department’s YouTube channel, which is dedicated to showing physics experiments. That’s cool enough by itself, but what’s even better is that a large number of these experiments are dedicated to audio topics, so it’s a great way to really understand the physics of sound from something other than a book.
In this case it’s an experiment built around a Helmholtz resonator tube filled with sawdust that illustrates not only harmonics, but wavelengths as well, two things that are important to every day recording life.
There are two videos (parts 1 and 2) that provide an excellent visual example of harmonic concepts. These videos aren’t too long, and are an easy view. That being said, here’s a great little Chrome plugin that I use all the time to speed up videos called Video Screen Controller. It helps you to get to the point just that much faster.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
