Spoon on a string - description and questions, Sam S.

The spoon on the string is used as a learning tool in the sound resonance program cart. It consists of a large,  fully-metal serving spoon with a hole at the end of the handle for hanging on a peg or rack.  Through the hole a short paracord is strung with a loop on either end, large enough to fit one's fingers through.

When you hold the paracord and swing the spoon to hit a table, it makes a short, high clanging sound. However, if you put your fingers through the loops at the end of the chord and put them in your ears, the sound produced by hitting the spoon is much deeper, fuller, and longer lasting. It seems that sound waves are much more easily translated through the string than they are through the air, which makes the sound louder and last longer as the wave bounces back and forth between either end of the paracord.

This learning tool prompts a slew of different questions:
- Why does it sound louder when the string is "attached" to your ears?
- Why does the sound last longer when the string is attached to your ears?
- The tone is different with the string in your ears. It's fuller, with more notes, and lower overall. Why would this be?
- Is the sound you hear unique to this particular spoon? How might another metal object sound?
- Is this only possible with metal? What would a wooden or plastic spoon sound like?
- What if there was something to dampen the vibrations of the spoon, like some foam or water? How would that sound?
- How would this all sound underwater? Both with fingers in ears and without.
- Why can you only hear the lower notes when your fingers are in your ear?
- Does the sound change based on where you hit the spoon?
- Does the sound change based on what you hit the spoon with?

I don't know the answer to all of these questions, but they would be worth investigating. I do know that sound waves travel much more easily through the paracord than they do through air. Put another way, when the spoon is struck, it's vibrations have to displace air molecules, which then have to travel to your ear and vibrate the solid and liquid parts of your ear drum. Lots of sound waves are attenuated through this process. Conversely, when your fingers are in your ear, the sound vibrations can travel from the solid spoon, along the solid paracord, through your solid fingers, and into your eardrum. More sound waves, especially lower frequency waves, can reach your ear drum this way. Furthermore, as the spoon keeps vibrating, you can better hear further reflections of the vibrations for a longer time.

Some basic concepts and themes beyond sound resonance to explore with this item: forces (hitting the soon), materials science (metal vs. other material, shape of the object).

-Sam S.