Tag Archives: sound

#TryThisTuesday: Chicken Sounds from a Cup!

This week we are going to make chicken sounds from a cup!

You will need:img_4715

  • plastic cup
  • string
  • paperclip
  • paper towel
  • scissors
  • water
  • pin




First put a hole in the top of your cup. We found it easiest to push a pin through and then make the hole larger with scissors.

Cut a piece of string that is about 20cm long and put it through the hole in the cup.

Tie the top end of string to the side of the paper clip.img_4716

Wet the paper towel. Hold the cup in one hand and wrap the paper towel around the string near the paper cup. Squeeze the string and pull down in sharp jerks to make the chicken noise!

The Science

Sound travels in waves, which cause particles to vibrate and causes the sound. The vibrations from the string would normally be almost silent without the cup.

When you add the cup it amplifies the sound and makes it much louder. This is because the cup is a solid object, and there are lots of closely squashed together particles in a solid object for the sound waves to hit and vibrate. The more vibrations the LOUDER the sound.


#TryThisTuesday: DIY Sci-Fi Laser Sound

This week we will show you how to create sci-fi laser sound effects using a slinky and a cup.


The first step is to try and listen to the noise a slinky makes on its own by moving it up and down so the bottom of it bounces off the floor as shown in the picture below.


The next step is to place the cup in the top of the slinky as shown below and try the same movement.


The Science

Sound is actually particle vibrations and travels in waves. This means it relies on particles colliding to transfer the sound energy. In a gas such as air the particles are really spread out which means they are less likely to collide. In solids the particles are much closer together which means the particles collide a lot more and the sound energy is transferred more effectively.


This is why the sound is much louder when the sound waves travel through the solid cup as opposed to the air. Rumour has it that they actually used this same technique to make the laser sound effects in the original Star Wars movies back in 1977.