Science / Sound for Clubs

Use a Balloon to Amplify Sound

Small sounds can still make a loud noise when you use a good sound conductor. Experiment with a balloon, compressed air and your own ears to find out how it works and the science behind it.

What you'll need:

• Balloon(s)

Instructions:

1. Blow up the balloon.
2. Hold the balloon close to you ear while you or someone else tap lightly on the other side.

What's happening?

Despite you only tapping lightly on the balloon your ears can hear the noise loudly. When you blew up the balloon you forced the air molecules inside the balloon closer to each other. Because the air molecules inside the balloon are closer together, they become a better conductor of sound waves than the ordinary air around you.

In the morning

In the morning we usually run around the court and do some Yoga exercises with Mrs Parker. But today for fitness we played the balloon game with Mrs Raj. When we were about to go out for fitness, Mrs Raj said “The boys will go first” because if it were a boys and girls game, they would make a fuss about holding hands. So the girls did two laps jogging around the court, while the boys played with the balloon.

While the other students were playing, I had to go to Mrs Parker, so I missed quite a lot. But I’ll tell you what happened when I got there… When I finally arrived there, it was the boys that were playing with the balloon, so I saw my friend and I ran up to her and we jogged around the court together. After, we had finished jogging around the court twice, the other girls and I were watching the boys play. Vainikolo fell down because he was trying to hit the balloon, he slipped over but he was strong so he carried on.

As the boys’ game ended, it was the girls turn and I was so excited because I was there just in time to play the game. We had to get in a circle and hold hands. While we held hands, Mrs Raj threw the balloon in the air, we kept an eye on the balloon so we could hit the balloon, while we were still holding hands. We could use our heads and legs too, but using our hands was easier.

Meanwhile the boys were running two laps around the court. The girls were screaming saying “Hit the balloon!” and “Go that way!” it was just chaos but the game was awesome and so much fun! But we were hitting the balloon towards the field, the blue balloon landed on the grass and it went POP! we all sadly said “Aww!” then the game was over, so we headed back to class.