This is my second unit venture for my class Light, Sound and Time. In this unit, we learned about sound, and how we collaborate with this idea in our everyday life as a part of nature. By doing so, we figured out how the ear functions, and how speed, wavelength and frequency. We've figured out how to quantify a high/low frequency and amplitude, in addition to that we realized what the sonic boom was, the edge of hearing, the Doppler effect within the works of a guitar. We then went on a field experience to the Chicago Music Exchange where we talked with professionals about the technicalities of the instruments specifically guitars. This led us perfectly into the action project. For this venture we made a Diddley Bow, helping us figure out how guitars work , with sound waves, notes and vibrations. Stick around and you will see my process in discovering sound on a Diddley Bow.
What is a Diddly Bow?
A diddly bow is a single-stringed instrument that consists of a wire tied between two nails and a battery on a wooden board over a tin can. The tensioned string touches the can, and the nut is where the battery touches the string. This is both used as a bridge and as an amplifier. The outcome will represent the acts of a guitar.
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| GA, "Sketch", 2019 |
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| GA, "diddly bow", 2018 |
How does a diddly bow make sound?
A diddly bow makes sound by plucking the guitar string that.is wrapped tightly by the nails and battery creating vibrations. These vibrations are what makes the diddly bow have low volume. In order to amplify the low sounds we added a tin can to act as the hole in a guitar creating stronger amplified vibrations.
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| GA, "harmonics labelled",2018 |
How do we perceive sound?
A very important science principle is how we hear! This process starts with sound waves entering our ears through what is called our Pinna. Sound waves then travel through the auditory canal which condenses the sound waves to be smaller. The condensed sound waves then enter the eardrum where they start to vibrate causing the little bones called the ossicles to move. The ossicles then change the vibration into electrical signals by the little hairs in the cohclea. Which then send signals to the brain allowing us to perceive sound. Now the way we distinguish these sounds in terms of volume has to do with sound waves' high or low amplitude. Lastly to distinguish the pitch the sound waves are measured in a low or high frequency.
What are Harmonic Waves?
A harmonic wave is a wave with a frequency that is measured in whole numbers. In order to calculate my harmonic waves I first measured the frequency by plucking my single string and putting it up to my computer. using this information I was able to find my wavelength to then calculate the harmonics.
Step A:
Step B:
Step A:
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| GA, "wavelenght", 2018 |
Step B:
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| GA, "Harmonics", 2019 |
Precise Sound Building
This showcases the measured data to calculate the diddly bow angles.
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| GA,"data",2018 |
JAM OUT!
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