Hooked on Science: Make a speaker out of paper

Is your record player missing speakers? If so, using a few ingredients from around the house you can create your own speaker.

Materials

* Sewing needle

* Piece of paper

* Transparent tape

* Record player

* Record

Instructions

STEP 1: Roll the piece of paper into a cone and place a piece of transparent tape on the rolled-up paper to keep it from unrolling.

STEP 2: Using the tape, secure the sewing needle to the pointed end of the rolled up piece of paper.

STEP 3: Place the record on the record player. Turn on the record player.

STEP 4: Hold the paper cone so the sewing needle is touching the grooves on the record and observe.

Explanation

As the sewing needle comes in contact with the grooves on the record, the vibration travel up the sewing needle to the paper cone. The paper cone amplifies the music. Sound waves are vibrations moving through air or water, which are caused by a moving object.

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website www.hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science.