The Task
My group, Diego, Zane, Daniel, Wesley, and I, were assigned the task to build a working musical instrument that could go a full octave. This means it can play at least 8 notes from one note to another. We could either build a wind, chime, or string instrument. Zane, Diego, and Daniel built the string instruments and Wesley built a wind instrument, leaving me with the chimes to build.
The Process
A lot of our time was split. The group almost felt separate in a good way. Daniel and Diego worked on the guitar, Wesley worked on his pipe, I worked on my chimes, and Zane worked on his bass. Eventually, we put all our work on a document explaining how each one works.
The Final Product
My chime had a total of 15 notes. It went from a B3 to a C#5 chromatically. As a result, my chime was able to play chords, scales, and technically every possible combination of notes when not taking into account octaves. This made it unique from other chime instruments because most ones designed were based on a major scale. Since mine was a chromatic scale, I could play majors, minors, blues, and the different modes as well as anything else. This made my instrument very flexible for the song we performed.
Duality Rock
An opportunity was offered by Mr. Williams for extra credit by making a song with the instruments we created. If the lyrics were physics related, there would be even more. As a result, my group created a parody of Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" and named it "Duality Rock". The name is a reference to the wave-particle duality of light and photons. The lyrics' content is about sound and light waves. The song was a huge hit and got us a lot of points. These were the lyrics:
"I remember the bell was rung
When the sound waves bounced and sprung
Compression waves shake the air
The vibrations from the contact played a note that was fair
Resonance made the note sound rich
The traveled distance determined the pitch
Higher frequency smaller wavelengths
Hitting natural frequency amplifies strength, WELL
sound and light waves, they're something
And they help you see and hear
I never knew me a faster wave than the photons the highest tier
Oh Mama mama, those red sunsets
When large particles reflect more spects
sound and light has muuuuch respeeeeeect
La lalalala la lalalala la lalalala la
As the sun shined down bringing brightness and zest
Objects absorb light and reflect the rest
Shorter wavelengths have a violet hue
They also have a hiiiiiigher frequency too
Longer wavelengths, the color red
Other colors from what I said
Smallest frequency is radio
Highest frequency is gamma rays with wavelengths so low
Well sound and light waves, they're something
And they help you see and hear
I never knew me a faster wave than the photons the highest tier
Oh Mama mama, those red sunsets
When large particles reflect more spects
sound and light has muuuuch respeeeeeect
La lalalala la lalalala la lalalala la
La lalalala la lalalala la lalalala la"
We took out the third verse since it was just a repeat of the first. During the performance, a few of the chimes snapped because they were suspended by weak strings. Despite that, we still pulled through and had a successful performance.
"I remember the bell was rung
When the sound waves bounced and sprung
Compression waves shake the air
The vibrations from the contact played a note that was fair
Resonance made the note sound rich
The traveled distance determined the pitch
Higher frequency smaller wavelengths
Hitting natural frequency amplifies strength, WELL
sound and light waves, they're something
And they help you see and hear
I never knew me a faster wave than the photons the highest tier
Oh Mama mama, those red sunsets
When large particles reflect more spects
sound and light has muuuuch respeeeeeect
La lalalala la lalalala la lalalala la
As the sun shined down bringing brightness and zest
Objects absorb light and reflect the rest
Shorter wavelengths have a violet hue
They also have a hiiiiiigher frequency too
Longer wavelengths, the color red
Other colors from what I said
Smallest frequency is radio
Highest frequency is gamma rays with wavelengths so low
Well sound and light waves, they're something
And they help you see and hear
I never knew me a faster wave than the photons the highest tier
Oh Mama mama, those red sunsets
When large particles reflect more spects
sound and light has muuuuch respeeeeeect
La lalalala la lalalala la lalalala la
La lalalala la lalalala la lalalala la"
We took out the third verse since it was just a repeat of the first. During the performance, a few of the chimes snapped because they were suspended by weak strings. Despite that, we still pulled through and had a successful performance.
Important Concepts
Transverse Wave - A type of wave where particle movement is perpendicular to wave motion. Examples of these include the waves on the electromagnetic spectrum (radio, gamma, visible light, etc). They do not require a medium to transfer energy.
Longitudinal Wave - Also called compression waves, this is a type of wave where particle movement is parallel to wave motion. An example of these waves are sound waves. They do require a medium to transfer energy.
Wave Speed (v) - The velocity of a wave. It is found by using the equation v = λf. Its unit is meters per second (m/s).
Wavelength (λ) - The length of a wave from one point to another. These can be the crests (high points) or the troughs (low points) or anywhere else in-between as long as the length is measured from two similar points. This can be calculated by using the manipulated equation λ = v/f. Its unit is meters (m).
Frequency (f) - The amount of waves in one second. This is found by using the equation f = v/λ or f = 1/T. Its unit is hertz (Hz).
Period (T) - The time for one wave. It is found by using the equation T = 1/f. Its unit is seconds (s).
Amplitude (A) - This is the height of magnitude of a wave. It is the distance from a crest or trough to the mid line. This determines the wave's loudness or intensity. For sound, its unit is decibels (dB).
Constructive Interference - A type of interference that increases wave amplitude. This happens if two waves with similar crests and troughs contact each other. Amplitude is doubled if the amplitude on both waves are the same.
Destructive Interference - A type of interference that decreases wave amplitude. This happens if two waves with opposite crests and troughs contact each other. If the amplitudes are the same, then the point of contact has no motion.
Refraction - The bending of light through a medium.
Law of Reflection - Reflection is the bouncing of light on a medium. The Law of Reflection states that the angle that a ray of light hits a reflective medium is the same that it bounces off on.
Doppler Effect - A phenomenon where a wave's frequency or wavelength changes for an observer moving relative to the wave source. An increase in wavelength is a redshift while a decrease in wavelength is a blueshift.
Longitudinal Wave - Also called compression waves, this is a type of wave where particle movement is parallel to wave motion. An example of these waves are sound waves. They do require a medium to transfer energy.
Wave Speed (v) - The velocity of a wave. It is found by using the equation v = λf. Its unit is meters per second (m/s).
Wavelength (λ) - The length of a wave from one point to another. These can be the crests (high points) or the troughs (low points) or anywhere else in-between as long as the length is measured from two similar points. This can be calculated by using the manipulated equation λ = v/f. Its unit is meters (m).
Frequency (f) - The amount of waves in one second. This is found by using the equation f = v/λ or f = 1/T. Its unit is hertz (Hz).
Period (T) - The time for one wave. It is found by using the equation T = 1/f. Its unit is seconds (s).
Amplitude (A) - This is the height of magnitude of a wave. It is the distance from a crest or trough to the mid line. This determines the wave's loudness or intensity. For sound, its unit is decibels (dB).
Constructive Interference - A type of interference that increases wave amplitude. This happens if two waves with similar crests and troughs contact each other. Amplitude is doubled if the amplitude on both waves are the same.
Destructive Interference - A type of interference that decreases wave amplitude. This happens if two waves with opposite crests and troughs contact each other. If the amplitudes are the same, then the point of contact has no motion.
Refraction - The bending of light through a medium.
Law of Reflection - Reflection is the bouncing of light on a medium. The Law of Reflection states that the angle that a ray of light hits a reflective medium is the same that it bounces off on.
Doppler Effect - A phenomenon where a wave's frequency or wavelength changes for an observer moving relative to the wave source. An increase in wavelength is a redshift while a decrease in wavelength is a blueshift.
Reflection
This project had a lot of flexibility in how we managed our time. We were given a goal and had to accomplish it with little direction. I believe I thrived under these terms and was super successful in the end. Some of my strengths were the lyric writing and thinking outside the box. A major part of our final product was the song we performed. A lot of the lyrics were written by me with some edits from my teammates later. The lyrics were well written with heavy reliance on the content learned during this unit. This made the song high quality and got our team a lot of points in the end. Another strength that I had was thinking outside the box. What made my chimes different from other chimes was that it was a chromatic scale. Most chimes were centered around a major scale with 8 notes. My chimes had 15 notes that went up half steps rather than whole and half steps. This means I could theoretically play any scale, chord, and other note combination when not taking into account octaves. This added a huge amount of flexibility to my instrument which I used well during the song performance. Building the chromatic scale took a lot of time, but it all paid off in the end of the project.
With these strengths, there were some weaknesses. My main weaknesses were my string usage and my mallet choice. A huge flaw in my chimes was the strings I used to suspend my chimes. They were weak white strands of string that could easily snap. This means I had to constantly repair the chimes because a little too much force used on the chime would break it. They even broke during the performance which sabotaged the chords I played. The string was also exposed on the top which gets into my next problem. For my mallets, I used wooden sticks. But, metal sticks would've improved the resonance of the chimes. I couldn't use these because of the strings exposed on the top. Using metal would've severed the top or increased the force on the chime, breaking the suspension. If I just used fishing line rather than sticking with the white string, the chime would've been a lot more stable and sounded much better.
There were significant problems with my chimes that hindered its quality. However, I made up for this by having a massive amount of creativity and lyric writing. My chimes were really powerful and helped add a percussive feel to the song. This was a very fun project because it combined two things I love: music and science. It was unforgettable and will definitely be one of my favorites.
With these strengths, there were some weaknesses. My main weaknesses were my string usage and my mallet choice. A huge flaw in my chimes was the strings I used to suspend my chimes. They were weak white strands of string that could easily snap. This means I had to constantly repair the chimes because a little too much force used on the chime would break it. They even broke during the performance which sabotaged the chords I played. The string was also exposed on the top which gets into my next problem. For my mallets, I used wooden sticks. But, metal sticks would've improved the resonance of the chimes. I couldn't use these because of the strings exposed on the top. Using metal would've severed the top or increased the force on the chime, breaking the suspension. If I just used fishing line rather than sticking with the white string, the chime would've been a lot more stable and sounded much better.
There were significant problems with my chimes that hindered its quality. However, I made up for this by having a massive amount of creativity and lyric writing. My chimes were really powerful and helped add a percussive feel to the song. This was a very fun project because it combined two things I love: music and science. It was unforgettable and will definitely be one of my favorites.