When I was a kid, I heard that if you held a sea shell up to your ear, you could hear the sound of the ocean. At that time, I had never been to the ocean, but the distant roaring sound from the shell sounded like an ocean does on TV. Now I live at the beach, and listening to a sea shell still sounds like the ocean, but is it. You can do an experiment to find out, and you don't even need a sea shell.
Instead, you will need:
- a drinking glass
Hold the opening of the glass against your ear, as if you were listening to something that was inside the glass. What do you hear? Sort of a static/roar sound. Wait a minute. Supposedly, the shells come from the ocean and that is why you can still hear it inside. That glass probably did not come from the ocean. Maybe you are hearing the sound of the dishwasher?
To find out about the sound, you want everything to be VERY quiet. Wait for a time when nothing is going on. Turn off the TV. Go ahead. Turn it off. Nothing horrible will happen. Once you have the room very quiet, listen to the glass again. The ocean sound is very dim, and if you have things quiet enough, it may be gone. Now, you want some noise. Turn the TV back on. (See, I told you it would be OK.) Turn on some other noisy things. Once the place is good and loud, listen to the glass again. Now the ocean roar is very loud.
What is going on? Our experiment gives us the information we need. The sound you are hearing is related to the sound in the room you are in. As the sound waves hit the glass, it vibrates. This causes the air inside the glass to vibrate, which causes the "ocean" sound. The louder the room, the louder the sound in the glass. Try listening to different things. Does a glass make a different sound from a shoe? What do you say when you hear the sound of a shoe? Geshunteit, of course.
Have a wonder-filled week.
