We describe here a low-cost experiment for introductory physics students where they compare the physical properties of aluminum and steel by means of cantilever oscillations. This, in turn, allows the students to improve their physical intuition about these materials. Further, the students can apply their physics and mathematics knowledge and…

The udu is a traditional Nigerian percussion instrument that can be thought of as a Helmholtz resonator with two apertures. We use a simple two-particle mechanical analogue to study the behaviour of such a resonator and find that the model describes quite well the main features of udu acoustics.

We present a novel method for demonstrating the physical principles of ultrasound imaging at a level suitable for educational programmes up to the university level, using a simple mechanical model that is very inexpensive and accessible to a broad variety of educational institutions. The method revolves around the use of one or two steel springs…

Like many other universities, Musical Acoustics is offered at our school as a lab-based course fulfilling general science requirements for non-majors. The course has been team-taught by a physics professor and music professor since its earliest inception and, by far, the most popular unit explores room acoustics through a variety of activities and…

Creating pleasant musical sounds by vibrating the strings of musical instruments such as guitars and violins is the result of the type of instrument played as well as the mastery of the player. This article explains the physics of vibrating strings caused either by a bow drawn over them or by being plucked, and provides a simple analysis to…

The purpose of this study is to review the postgraduate theses on science/physics education in Turkey to guide the teaching of the sound concept. Although the theses examined within the scope of this study belong to a certain region, the previous literature shows us that the learning difficulties/misconceptions are generally independent of…

In the violin, the fundamental air cavity mode (the A0 mode) is associated with the sound radiated by the f-holes. The dependences of the sound velocity of the A0 frequency on gaseous temperature and mass were investigated. It was found that the frequency of the A0 mode changed, depending on the molecular weight and the temperature of the gas…

This article presents the study of Fourier series experimentally, using the "ExpEYES"-17 kit in a different way. This familiar undergraduate experiment has been performed for teaching online laboratory classes when face-to-face classes were not possible, due to the "COVID"-19 pandemic. We chose parabolic and sawtooth waveforms,…

We describe an educational activity that can be completed with mobile media devices in order to understand the working principle of a pair of tuning forks, from the Historical Collection of Physics Instruments of the University of Palermo, and how they were used to explain acoustic interference and beats with the Lissajous optical method. This…

A new device for teaching the physics of sound, specifically demonstrating the wavelengths of standing sound waves, is here described. I define a "Lincoln's Tube" as any hollow tube that uses lights (LEDs typically) to demonstrate the presence of sound standing waves. The name is chosen intentionally to recall a Ruben's Tube or a Kundt's…

Similar to how stealth materials were developed to reduce the radar wave energy returning from an aircraft, here we explore a low-cost laboratory demonstration that uses similar principles to prevent detection of an object by an ultrasonic sensor. This demonstration setup can be used as a starting point to encourage students to explore the surface…

A phone emitting sound of a fixed frequency is sliding on an inclined plane and approaching a second phone kept at the bottom of the plane. The detected frequency versus time data by the second phone are used to calculate the acceleration of the sliding phone. The primary objective of this paper is to calculate the sliding friction between the…

The acoustic resonance in four glass Helmholtz resonators with diameters of 70, 52, 40, and 32 mm was detected in the frequency range of 360 to 1700 Hz using the simple experimental setup presented in this paper. The measured amplitudes of acoustic pressure required correction since the sound pressure amplitude of the loudspeaker used was not…

Interest in smartphone-based learning, especially in the use of internal sensors in smartphones for physics experiments, is increasing rapidly. Internal sensors in smartphones such as acoustic sensor, optical sensor, and acceleration sensor can help researchers alleviate the problems including insufficient accuracy with low-cost equipment, high…

Sound is one of the most commonly used physical phenomena that most of us use without considering its nature. Moreover, students often face difficulties in understanding acoustic phenomena, the most frequent one of which is the substance-based view of sound instead of a process of pressure and density differences. The current study introduces…