Transcript: Sound and Solids: Listening Stick

JESSICA: Hey, Kenny, can you hear this?

KENNY: You're banging on the table with a wooden spoon.

JESSICA: Put your ear up to the table and listen. How does it sound now?

KENNY: Ow! It's a lot louder.

JESSICA: Well, Abigale A. of Fort Worth, Texas sent us this ZOOMphenom. She says when you put your ear up against a table, you can hear the sound vibrating through it, but when you take your ear away, the sound has to travel through the air, which makes the sound seem not as loud.

KENNY: Okay, now I have a phenom for you. Can you hear this clock ticking?

JESSICA: Barely.

KENNY: Try it with the yardstick up to your ear.

JESSICA: Whoa, that is so cool. I can feel the clock vibrating. I can hear it, like, so loudly.

KENNY: It's kind of like when I had my head up to the table listening to the tapping of the spoon. It's a lot louder, so sound must travel better through solids, right?

JESSICA: Yeah. Instant replay— so you can hear what I hear.

(loud ticking)

KENNY: Do you want to try it with other things?

JESSICA: Hold on, this is really cool.

KENNY: It's hypnotizing. Baseball bat. Golf club. I'm going to put it down like this.

JESSICA: Yeah.

KENNY: Ready? One, two, three, push.

JESSICA: Whoa!

KENNY: It's a lot louder.

JESSICA: My ear's cold.

KENNY: I can hear it going "tick-tick..."

JESSICA: I know.

KENNY: Tick-tick- tick-tick tick-tick- tick-tick...

JESSICA: Awesome! Wow, these things worked really well. See if you can find something at your house to test this out.