The Singing Balloon Experiment
Did you know you can make a balloon sing?
What do I need:
- Balloon
- Nut (sometimes called a hex nut)
Instructions to make your balloon sing:
- First put the nut inside the balloon.
- Inflate the balloon with the nut inside and tie it up.
- Rotate the balloon gently and smoothly till the nut starts to spin around and around. The easiest way to do this is to have the balloon nozzle up and to gently spin it round in a horizontal motion till the nut starts to spin.
Now you’ll be hearing an awesome but pretty weird noise, let’s find out why!
Every single sound you hear is caused by a vibration. When someone talks their throat vibrates, when you bang a drum the skin of the drum vibrates and that’s what makes the noise.
The sound that you’re hearing is the balloon itself vibrating. The angles on the nut scrape across the surface of the balloon and make it vibrate – making the balloon sing.
