Tuning Forks and Bells

We experimented with tuning forks today, and our class had a lot of great insights. Because I’m not allowed to post student first names on our site, I have identified students by the first letter of their first names.

  • It sounds like it’s humming… It sounds like it’s someone screaming, like “oooooh” (X)
  • It sounds like a fan, when you’re close to it. (A)
  • It sounds like a well when you call into it. (R)
  • I can feel it vibrating (R)
  • It’s like when you’re at the hospital and you can see the graph on the screen going up and down (E)
  • It sounds like a bell when you hit it on your shoe (L)
  • The big one makes a different sound from the little on (K)
  • The small one sounds louder and the big one sounds deeper (E)
  • When you look at it it looks blurry (L)
  • The big one is different because it’s taller (P)
  • It sounds like a vibrating coin going down a well (R)
  • It sounds like when you hit the bell at a hotel (X)

Here’s a video of handbells, which are kind of like tuning forks with megaphones to make them louder. :)

You can see a tuning fork in super-slow motion here:

And here’s “Ode to Joy” in tuning forks.

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