Science | Science Experiment of the Week 6 | 263 - Jurassic Vibrations

I got the idea for this week's experiment while rewatching the Jurassic Park trilogy. If you have seen the movies, you probably remember that as the T. rex approached, they could see the vibrations in a glass of water.

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This Week's Experiment - #263 Jurassic Vibrations

These experiments are from Robert Krampf - The Happy Scientist

I got the idea for this week's experiment while rewatching the Jurassic Park trilogy. If you have seen the movies, you probably remember that as the T. rex approached, they could see the vibrations in a glass of water. That got me to thinking that maybe you could use the water to see the vibrations of smaller monsters, such as little brothers. For this experiment, you will need:

a glass or bowl of water
a bright flashlight
a darkened room
a stack of books, a little taller than the container of water
something to use for propping up the flashlight

Place the bowl of water on the table. Put the stack of books about a foot away. Lay the flashlight on the books, so that it is pointing towards the water. Lift the back end of the flashlight and prop it up. You need to tilt the flashlight so that the beam of light hits the surface of the water. Now you are ready to begin.

Switch the flashlight on, lower the lights and look around. You should see a spot of light on the wall or ceiling caused by the beam of the flashlight reflecting off the water. Watch this spot carefully as you stomp your foot. What happened? The light wavered and rippled. Your foot caused the floor to vibrate, which caused the table to vibrate, which caused the glass of water to vibrate. The surface of the water rippled as it vibrated, and this showed up in the reflection of the flashlight.

Now that you know what to look for, try making smaller vibrations. Tap your foot. Have someone walk by. Wait for a truck to drive past. Drop a coin on the table. How small a vibration can you detect? That will depend on the construction of your table, the brightness of the light, what kind of floor you have, and even how your house is built. Try putting the device in different rooms. If you use the same table, same bowl, etc., you should be able to test to see which floor carries the most vibration. You could also test different tables, to see whether a sturdy table transmits vibrations as well as a wobbly one. You might try to see how far away you can detect a stomp, and you may be surprised at how far it is. You could try using different containers for the water. Does a stemmed wine glass work the same as a bowl? Is a shallow saucer any better than a deep container? I warn you that I started playing with this and used up an entire evening. Be careful or you might get hooked and wind up as a structural engineer.

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