Oak Forest HS Physics Students Create Sound Devices

Oak Forest High School Freshmen Tasnem Hammad and Amy Zwolinski display the sound devices they created for their Honors Physics project. Hammad created a pan flute out of straws and tape; Zwolinski created an ocarina, which is a flute created out of an egg. The physics partners have a new respect for sound waves and how challenging they are to create. Zwolinski said, “It is hard to make a note in an egg.” Her ocarina was carefully made by blowing out the egg, and then carefully tapping holes in the surface of the shell. One can play an ocarina like a haunting flute. Zwolinski ruefully said that her ocarina was hard to produce a note from. Hammad said learned about crafting her pan flute from the materials used to make the flute. She said, “The length of straw matters for the sound of the note.” Physics teacher Steve Hogan said that the class was learning “to connect the science of sound waves to many applications in societal life: musical instruments, ultrasound, or noise cancellation.” The class actively researched a topic of their choice and then presented their findings on that topic.