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This Week's Experiment - #242 The Five Cents
The idea for this week's experiment started with a joke. Often when I am
doing a show at a school, one class will come in early to get a good seat.
If there is time, I usually ask them what they are studying in science. This
week, one class said they were studying the five senses. I made a joke,
asking them why they were studying money (five cents, get it?), but the idea
of using coins to study our senses stuck with me. Slowly, it turned into an
interesting experiment. To try this, you will need:
several small objects
a variety of coins
a group of people
How good is your hearing? If you are like most people, your hearing is
better than your listening. In other words, you often hear things that you
really don't pay attention to (such as your parents calling you during your
favorite TV show). It is only when you hear something that interests you
that you pay attention (such as the sound of someone scooping ice cream).
To test this, you will need a room with several people. You want people that
are talking and ignoring what you are doing. A fast food restaurant is a
good place to try this, and they serve fries too. Hold a pen about a foot
above the table and drop it. Notice the reaction of people around you, or
should I say the lack of reaction. Wait a minute, so you are not too obvious
and then drop something else, say maybe a set of keys. Maybe a little more
impact, but still not much reaction. Now drop several coins on the table. I
bet that just about everyone in the place will glance your way.
Why did everyone look up at the sound of the coins, but not for the other
sounds? The sound of the coins was not any louder, but it is a sound that
definitely gets our attention. Every day you hear all sorts of sounds that
you really don't pay attention to. For example, what do you hear right now?
Now, really listen. Sit quietly and pay close attention to everything you
are hearing. You will probably find that you have been hearing all sorts of
things that you just never noticed because they did not interest you. Your
brain filters them out, so you can pay attention to important sounds. When
it does hear a sound that it considers important (such as money!), it perks
up and sends it through to your conscious, just in case.
From Robert Krampf's Science Education Company
PO Box 60982
Jacksonville, FL 32236-0982
904-388-6381
krampf@aol.com
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