To Explain Sound, Find Your Inner Child: Michigan Physicist (Watch)

What is sound?

Scientists were posed the question by 11-year-olds from around the world in the fifth annual Flame Challenge sponsored by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook in New York City.

Answers to the question by Michigan physicist Nick Weckesser and Arizona psychology professor Bruce Goldsetin were selected from among hundreds for a $1,000 prize each, according to a news release.

The competition is so named because Alda, as a curious 11-year-old, wanted to know, “What is flame?” The acclaimed actor, writer and science advocate is a visiting professor at Stony Brook.

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Weckesser,who teaches college physics at Eastern Michigan University and explains complex science in a clear and vivid way to the public on his YouTube channel, The Science Asylum, won in the video category with his descriptions of “air wiggles.”

Weckesser said The Flame Challenge reminds science educators that “they weren’t always adults” and that “if science is also communicated in an entertaining way, it has the power to inspire children and adults alike to pay attention to the world around them and maybe even pursue science as a career.” 

“As a society, we need effective scientific communication as we face future challenges,” he said in a news release.
His advice to aspiring scientists: “The best way to teach kids is to find your inner child.”

Goldstein, who painted a picture of sound by describing vibrations on a drum, aid the Flame Challenge helps unravel the mystery of science for many people.

The winning entries, as well as other finalists, can be seen at the Flame Challenge website. Alda announced the winners Saturday at the “What Is Sound?” event at the World Science Festival in Manhattan. 

The entries had been scrutinized by 26,000 schoolchildren in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, England, Germany, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sultunate of Oman, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Italy.

What Is (Fill in the Blank)?

Besides flame and sound, previous questions Flame Challenge posed to scientists concern time, color and sleep. All are submitted by 11-year-olds.

“I like to listen to sounds around me and wonder how they all sound different,” said Aidan Green, a New Zealand fifth-grader who was one several children who submitted questions relating to sound. “What makes them do that.”

The Flame Challenge will run again next year with a new question contributed by 11-year-olds. Children can submit their questions for consideration as next year’s topic here.

Alda, in a statement, said the Flame Challenge provided a fun platform for the 26,000 kids who judged the entries to learn about the physics of sound, and a chance for the scientists who entered “a chance to learn and relearn the importance of relating to your audience.”

“The scientists and the students both had a chance to come away knowing more than they did before,” Alda said. “I congratulate them and I thank them all.”

The Flame Challenge, now in its fifth year, aims to encourage scientists to explain complex material in ways non-scientists can understand. It is sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  

"The Flame Challenge is a remarkable competition that we proudly support,” Donna J. Nelson, president of the American Chemical Society, said in a statement. 

“It takes the scientists and the young students, who ask the questions and judge the entries, on a joint journey of discovery,” Nelson said. “For the scientists, it’s about explaining basic scientific principles in simple, yet imaginative ways. For the students, it’s an opportunity to envision science, not as an arbitrary set of facts and figures, but as a vital and visionary universe of the possible that they can explore and expand."

Rush Holt, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of the Science family of journals, said that to “be able to explain the complex nature of sound to children, yet make it fun and accessible to them, is an achievement worth acknowledging.” 

“The genius of the Flame Challenge is to take a deceptively simple and obvious question that is actually rich and layered and can get a child to think more deeply about the world of science,” Holt said. “‘ What is Sound?’ is a thought-provoking subject for scientists and students alike to tackle.”

To find the Flame Challenge winners, entries hundreds of scientists were first screened for accuracy and then sent out to schools for judging by 11-year-olds. Entries came in from scientists from around the world including Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Syria, United Kingdom, and the United States.