Sounds are usually invisible. Science has created equipment, such as oscilloscopes, that allows us to produce a visual representation of sound waves. The patterns produced vary depending on the tones traveling through the air. This musician uses jazz music and fire to show us what sound waves look like.
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To understand sound, we should understand how sound travels. A solid surface is the best conductor of sound, followed by water and air. To demonstrate this, use your fist to knock on a solid surface. It makes a loud sound. When you “knock” on liquid, it creates a more subtle sound but is more audible than knocking on air. When sound is shown visually, it may look like the image below.
When the trumpet player used fire to demonstrate sound waves, it appeared similarly.
The fire sound waves react to the music using an open-ended natural gas-fueled pipe, several jets of flame, and a trumpet. As the sound from the instrument travels through the hollow pipe, it causes flames from the jets to pulse. Higher notes produce higher flames, like those in the image below, while low notes produce smaller, more steady flames, like those in the above image.
It is fascinating to listen to the music and watch the flames dance as the fire reflects the sound waves traveling through the tube. The undulating flames dance and jump as the trumpet tones change. A vibrato causes the fire to pulse, with tiny wisps rising above the wave, hesitating in midair before vanishing.
This incredible fire experiment beautifully represents how sound waves move. Each note produces a different reaction from the flames.
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