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Activity
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Wave on a String

For Students 9th - 10th
An interactive simulation that teaches about waves, frequency, and amplitude by observing the waves and vibrations of a string while changing variables like distance, speed, fixed or unfixed ends, and more. This simulation can either be...
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Kid Musician: Mexico's Guitar Town

For Students K - 1st
Visit with Andres during fiesta time at Paracho Michoacan, Mexico's "guitar town". As Andres shows in this video segment from ZOOM, guitar music goes beyond simple sound vibrations. [2:55]
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Activity
Pennsylvania State University

Wave Animations: Longitudinal and Transverse Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
This physics tutorial features text and animations explaining the particle motion of a medium through which transverse, longitudinal, or surface waves move.
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Article
Pennsylvania State University

Applied Physics: Experimental Research on Baseball Bat Vibrations

For Students 9th - 10th
Fun science site that explores the vibrational behavior of a baseball/softball bat. Contains links to mode splitting in wood bats, controlling vibration, measuring the vibration of a baseball/softball bat and more!
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Article
Other

Bscs: Content Background for Sound

For Teachers K - 1st
This document will give you "extra" information and opportunities to build your understanding of sound so that you can be better prepared to facilitate the sound lessons with your students.
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Lesson Plan
Other

Bscs: Sound Lesson 2: More Sound Makers: Do They Vibrate?

For Teachers K - 1st
Do sound makers always vibrate? This lesson shows that all objects that produce sound vibrate, even if we cannot see or feel the vibrations. Included are a minute-by-minute lesson plan, activities, and teacher discussion points and...
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Activity
Scholastic

Scholastic: Dirtmeister's Science Lab: Good Vibrations

For Teachers 6th - 8th
An experiment that explores the relationship between vibrations and pitch. This site includes web links, a challenge question, and notes to the teacher.
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Handout
University of Sydney (Australia)

University of Sydney: Tennis Racket Physics

For Students 9th - 10th
An illustrated discussion about the physics principles associated with tennis rackets and sweet spots.
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Unit Plan
University of Guelph

University of Guelph: Physics Tutorials: Amplitude, Period, and Frequency

For Students 9th - 10th
A tutorial describing the characteristics of simple harmonic motion. Utilizes animations, mathematical equations, and interactive questions to teach essential principles.
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Unit Plan
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Physics 2000: Einstein's Legacy: Microwave Ovens

For Students 9th - 10th
A series of pages that explain how microwave radiation is utilized by ovens to cook food. Includes several Java applets.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: The Nature of Sound With a Slinky

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
A physics lesson where students investigate how sound can be produced and changed. Students identify vibrations as the source of sound and how it can be amplified and received, and then explore the use of a slinky to explain the nature...
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Article
Open Curriculum

Open Curriculum: Vibrations

For Students 9th - 10th
To understand the concept and properties of vibrations and periodic motions such as the Simple Harmonic motion.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Scientific American: Growing Up Different: In Tune

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Explore the science of sound and the human ear, and explain how this applies to the operation of cochlear implants for the deaf. Observe how structures can be "tuned" to respond to different frequencies.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Animal Instinct

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about animals that seem to instinctively know when a natural disaster is about to happen. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in author's purpose.
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Activity
SEDL

Sw Educational Development Lab: Sound Is Vibrations

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
This lesson plan engages young students in the study of "sound." The questions What is vibration and what can affect it, thus affecting sound? will be answered during the lab.
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Interactive
Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom: Waves and Sound: Slinky Lab Interactive

For Students 9th - 10th
Manipulate this virtual slinky that consists of a collection of dots to represent its coils. Grab a coil, and shake it back and forth to create vibrations which travel through the slinky from the location where it is shook to the ends...
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Unit Plan
Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom: Properties of Periodic Motion

For Students 9th - 10th
In Physics, a motion that is regular and repeating is referred to as a periodic motion. Most objects that vibrate do so in a regular and repeated fashion; their vibrations are periodic. Learn more here about periodic motion and take the...
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Handout
Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Transverse and Longitudinal Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
The physics tutorial illustrates and explains the distinction between transverse and longitudinal waves. Related links provided.
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Handout
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: First Grade Science: How Do I Make Sounds?

For Students 1st
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses how sounds are created through vibrations.
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Activity
Teachers TryScience

Teachers Try Science: Musical Coat Hangers

For Students 3rd - 8th
From the National Science and Technology Centre in Australia comes this easy experiment that shows how sound waves travel and what materials are good conductors of sound.
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Online Course
Cosmo Learning

Cosmo Learning: Physics Iii: Vibrations and Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of video lectures from a physics course focusing on vibration and waves taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The course overviews topics dealing with mechanical vibration and waves with twenty-three lectures....
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Online Course
Cosmo Learning

Cosmo Learning: Dynamics of Machines

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of video lectures from a course on the dynamics of machines. Webpage includes forty-four from a professor at the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning. Lectures vary in length and cover topics like degrees of...
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Handout
Simon Fraser University

Chem1 Virtual Textbook: Spectrum of a Guitar String

For Students 9th - 10th
Acting as a subtopic of the General Chemistry Virtual Textbook's section on Atoms and the Periodic Table, this site discusses spectrum in relation to Bohr's model. Included in the topics covered are standing waves, boundary condition,...
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Handout
Simon Fraser University

Chem1 Virtual Textbook: How Thermal Energy Is Stored in Molecules

For Students 9th - 10th
With an overview of topics related to chemical energetics, this site provides a foundation to a study of thermodynamics and thermal energy. Other topics covered include kinetic energy, translation, rotation, vibrations, density, and more.