How does the density of a material affect the properties of sound traveling from a tuning fork?

Guiding Question:

 How does the density of a material affect the properties of sound traveling from a tuning fork?

Hypothesis: The more dense the surface the lower the pitch

Controlled Variable

Tuning fork- G 384

Force- one medium hit

Manipulated Variable

Object- we are using four different types of materials.

Materials

·         Tuner

·         Notebook

·         Glass

·         Wood

·         Aluminum

·         Locker material

Tuner – G-348

Surface	Pitch Loudness
Aluminum 2800 kg/m3	Aluminum is the densest material that we tested. The observations that we made were Aluminum I produced the softest sound out of all of the objects that we tested.
Glass 2500 kg/m3	A lot louder that aluminum material, it had an annoying sound. This would be considered noise not music. When I was listening on the glass, Roy could hear the noise from the outside.
Wood (oak) 600 kg/m3	This is a lot louder than glass and aluminum and glass- softer than the locker sound.
Locker (steel) 222.260	This material was loudest out of all the materials, this material was the least dense. It had a very annoying sound, very high pitched, and Roy could hear the noise when I was listening to the locker.

Conclusion

 To conclude this lab we found that the material with the least amount of density had the loudest sound. The winner of this experiment was the material steel from our lockers. It turns out that what I thought (sound waves produce louder sounds in a dense material) was not correct. What I have now learned is that sound waves produce a louder sound when in a less dense material. Now I know why lockers sound so loud when you slam them.

Further Inquiry

                I think if I were to do this experiment again I would definitely include many different materials, such as a live tree or a brick. I would be very interesting to test this experiment on a living thing, (not harming the living thing) seeing whether the sound travels faster through biotic rather than abiotic things. This would also be interesting to see what the sound would sound like under water. If you bang the tuner on a dry surface then gently place the tuner on the surface of the water, would it be different or would it be the same?

Guiding Question:

 How does the density of a material affect the properties of sound traveling from a tuning fork?

Hypothesis: The more dense the surface the lower the pitch

Controlled Variable

Tuning fork- B 480

Force- one medium hit

Manipulated Variable

Object- we are using four different types of materials.

Tuner- B -480

Surface	Pitch Loudness
Aluminum 2800 kg/m3	Super high, but a very soft and discrete sound. The highness made the sound very intense.
Glass 2500 kg/m3	This is a little louder than the aluminum material, still having that very intense sound.
Wood (oak) 600 kg/m3	This has a softer sound compared to the steel locker, but it still has a very intense ringing.
Locker (steel) 222.260	Surprisingly this material was way louder than any of the other materials, even with a shorter tuner it was a very loud and intense pitch and sound.

Conclusion

                As the other lab that we completed this was very much the same. Roy and I used a different tuner; we used a higher and shorter tuner. We wanted to figure out if we got the same results as the time before. We did. Roy and I found that with a shorter and higher tuner the sound of the material was louder in a material that is less dense. The steel locker was out winner again! With a different tuner, it made a very different pitch but it you could really tell that the steel material was a lot louder when listening.

Further Inquiry

                What about a lower pitch? What would the pitch sound like now? Maybe a very low, but intense sound, who knows I guess we will never know until we try. I am very interested in knowing what the sound would be like when having the shortest/highest tuner, I think it might hurt my ears. What about a rock material? Many rocks are very dense, some aren’t, it would be cool to test the difference in sound and pitch with different types of rocks.