Science made Simple Fridat 19th Sept 2008 at John Derby House

David Price gave us a handling session of the items he had set up to demonstrate sound and how it travels.

We had a great lark banging an aluminium bin, sitting on a whooppee cushion , there was a bull whip we coundn't use because of lack of space. We handled a slinky and another item that twanged when you pulled and released it.

The purpose of these items was to demonstrate how sound travels which is by vibration.. David had a screen set up and connected to a music player which showed the decibles of sound on the screen and you could see the difference of the volume of sound.

We listened to different sounds to see what we could hear and it has been shown that modern sould played by younger people isdamaging to their ears.

A sonic boom is created by an object travelling faster than the air can move and the build up of air is released by an explosive bang.

A lot of the research is being used to try to help with deafness and speech defects. Manchester Science and Technology Museum is arranging to give similar demonstrations to schools and the public.

We all enjoyed David's enthusiasm, in particular, his grandpa dansing to the music to entertain us. A most enjoyable demonstration.Our thanks to the Research Council and Museum staff.

A nicecup of tea and biscuit rounded off the morning and our thanks to Mary ans all volunteers for making it all possible.

posted by Ken and Elaine