The Phenomenon of Resonance
This experience provides clear evidence of the phenomenon of resonance between the two tuning forks.
What students learn
- Resonance in acoustics
The science behind this experiment
A tuning-fork can be excited not only if the prongs are hit, but also by resonance, that is for the effect of the waves that reach it from another sound source of equal frequency, like, for instance, an identical tuning-fork: in such case the intensity of the vibration produced by resonance is maximum when the openings of the two resonance boxes face each other.
The vibrating tuning-fork B makes the air contained in its box vibrate. The sound waves established inside the hollow space determine the propagation, in the surrounding space, of a sound with a frequency that is equal to the one of the tuning-fork, and of remarkable intensity.
The air within the box A vibrates resonating with the sound emitted by the cavity B that has the same geometric characteristics. The air inside the box A vibrating transmits the vibration to the walls and then to the tuning-fork over them that is thus excited.
Equipment used
- Pair of La tuning forks with resonance boxes, hammer and clamps — ACO-001
Run this experiment in your classroom
This experiment is part of ATP Volta — a self-contained mobile science lab that turns an ordinary classroom into a working STEM laboratory, with over 200 experiments in physics, chemistry, biology, robotics and engineering. Gali, the AI tutor built into ATP Connect, guides students through each step and answers their questions at the bench.
See the ATP Volta mobile science labTalk to our team