Questions and Tasks

1. Why does a mosquito buzz while it's flying, but when it lands, it falls silent?

2. Which animals and birds have high (thin) voices, and which have low (gruff) voices?

3. Why do mosquitoes buzz thinly (high), while bumblebees, wasps, and bees buzz with a bass sound (low)?

4. What kind of voice do you have (high or low)? What about Dad? Mom? Grandma?

5. How is the wire stretched (tightly or loosely) when it squeaks thinly (high)? When does it sound with a bass tone (low)?

6. If you have a metallophone or xylophone, pay attention to which bars produce a high sound - the short ones or the long ones?

7. Why are many wind musical instruments - bugles, trumpets, trombones, tubas - made in the shape of megaphones? Where else have you seen megaphones?

8. What is the purpose of the beautiful plywood box with a hole that guitars, violins, cellos, mandolins, balalaikas, and these other string instruments have? Try tapping quietly first on a table or wall, and then on the body of a string instrument. When does the sound come out louder?

9. Make a "cello" from a stick, wire, and megaphone, play on it while pressing the string to the stick with your fingers, and then explain why, if you press the string at the bottom, the sound comes out high (thin), but if you press the string at the top, the sound comes out low (gruff)?

10. Make a device for recording voice on sooted glass or an iron ruler. Try to record your voice, and then answer how you can record the voices of people and musical instruments onto records.

11. Do an experiment with a record, pencil, and megaphone with a needle. Try spinning the record at different speeds. When does the sound from the record resemble Pinocchio's voice, and when does it resemble a bear's voice? Why does this happen?

12. At a construction site you can see thick and long pipes made of concrete, iron, or fired clay. If you crouch at one end of the pipe and whisper something, then at the other end of the pipe the sound will be heard clearly and loudly. Why does this happen?

13. Why can you hear an echo very well in a completely empty room (when you're moving to a new apartment or during renovation)? Why, when people bring things into the room, hang curtains and rugs, does the echo become quieter and quieter, and then disappear completely?