singing wine glass experiment results

How to Make a Wine Glass Sing Science Experiment

Sing, wine glass, sing! Although a wine glass can’t sing by itself on command, with just a little help from you, your singing wine glass can make music!

This experiment is super easy and only needs two supplies (a wine glass and water). By changing a few variables, kids can explore and test how the pitch and volume of sound changes.

Detailed printable instructions and an easy to understand scientific explanation is included below.

JUMP TO SECTION: Instructions | Video Tutorial | How it Works | Purchase Lab Kit

Supplies Needed

• A glass with a stem (any shape or size of wine glass will work)

Singing Wine Glass Lab Kit – Only $5

Use our easy Singing Wine Glass Science Lab Kit to grab your students’ attention without the stress of planning!

It’s everything you need to  make science easy for teachers and fun for students  — using inexpensive materials you probably already have in your storage closet!

Singing Glass Science Experiment Instructions

Step 1 – Start with an empty glass that has a stem. Any shape or size wine glass will work.

Step 2 – Fill the glass with water. We filled it a little more than 1/2 way full. You can experiment with different amounts of water because the quantity of water impacts the pitch of the sound.

Step 3 – Get the tip of your finger wet.

Step 4 – Hold the base of the glass stem with one hand (so it doesn’t fall over) and slowly and steadily move your wet fingertip around the rim of the glass. It may take some practice, but after a while, you should hear a singing noise.

Wondering what caused the wine glass to sing? Find out the answer in the how does this experiment work section below.

Video Tutorial

How Does the Singing Glass Science Experiment Work

Sound is a disturbance that travels through a medium as a wave.

In this experiment, when you rub your finger along the rim of the glass, you disturb the particles of the glass causing them to vibrate. The vibrations in the glass are transferred to the air surrounding the glass, creating a sound wave. You can actually see the vibrations of the glass if you look closely at the water in the glass (especially where the water and the glass are in contact).

Pitch is how high or low sound seems to a person and it depends on the frequency of the sound wave.

You can change the pitch of the sound produced by the amount of water you put in the glass. When you add more water to the glass, the pitch is low. This is because the high volume of water in the glass makes it more difficult for the glass particles to vibrate, so the vibrations of the glass are slower and they have a lower frequency.

When you add less water to the glass, the pitch is high. This is because the low volume of water in the glass allows the glass particle to vibrate more easily, so the vibrations of the glass are faster and have a higher frequency.

Other Ideas to Try

Try this experiment again, but use different sizes and shapes of glasses. How does this affect the glass’s ability to sing? Try using a drinking glass that is made of very thick glass. How does this glass sing compared to the wine glass? Instead of using water in the glass, try a different liquid like vegetable oil or corn syrup. Does this change the sound produced by the glass?

I hope you enjoyed the experiment. Here are some printable instructions:

Singing Glass Science Experiment

Instructions.

• Start with an empty glass that has a stem. Any shape or size of wine glass will work.
• Fill the glass with water. We filled it a little more than 1/2 way full. You can experiment with different amounts of water because the quantity of water impacts the pitch of the sound.
• Get the tip of your finger wet.
• Hold the base of the glass stem with one hand (so it doesn’t fall over) and slowly and steadily move your wet fingertip around the rim of the glass. It make take some practice, but after awhile you should hear a singing noise.

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Privacy Policy
• Disclosure Policy

Copyright © 2024 · Cool Science Experiments HQ

November 26, 2015

Singing Glasses

A melodious science project from Science Buddies

By Science Buddies

George Retseck

Key concepts Sound Physics Music Resonance

Introduction Thanksgiving can be a wonderful time of year, with friends and family getting together. The table is full of delicious food—a big feast—and there might even be some fancy dishes and glassware on the table to make the celebration even more special. But did you know that you can make wine glasses sing? Perhaps you have done this many times before, but have you ever wondered why the wine glass makes this sound? Do this activity, and you will not only make wine glasses sing, but you will also learn how to generate different notes; you might even get inspired to play a little song.

Background Glasses have been used for making music since the Middle Ages. The first musical instrument made of upright wine glasses was called the glass harp and was invented around 1750. About 10 years later, Benjamin Franklin—one of the founding fathers of the United States—invented a mechanical version of the glass harp, called the glass harmonica. Both of these instruments are based on the principle of generating musical tones by means of friction. What does that mean?

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

When you rub your moistened finger along the rim of the glass, your finger will stick to the glass as it encounters resistance, or friction, when it moves over the glass surface. The water on your finger, however, will allow your finger to slip, as it forms a cushion that reduces friction. When the pressure and amount of moisture are just right, this so-called stick-slip motion (the slight friction between your finger and the rim of the glass) will cause vibrations in the sides of the glass. The sides of the glass transmit the vibration to the surrounding air, creating a sound wave with a specific frequency. The frequency specifies the rate at which a vibration occurs and is usually measured per second or Hertz (Hz). There is a particular frequency, called the resonant frequency, at which the sides of the glass will vibrate most easily. The resonant frequency of wine glasses is typically within the range of human hearing (20-20,000 Hz), and this is why you hear the resulting resonant vibration as a tone. Now let's make some music and you can play your very own wine glass instrument.

Wine glasses and permission to use them carefully (optional: different size and shapes)

Graduated liquid measuring cup

Metal spoon

Ping pong ball (optional)

Chromatic tuner (optional, available as free phone app)

Piano or keyboard for comparing notes (optional)

Preparation

Find a working area that can tolerate some water spills.

Carefully gather your wine glass(es) and your measuring cup, as well as some water.

Wash your hands with dish soap and rinse your hands thoroughly.

Take an empty wine glass and put it in front of you on the table.

Hold down the base of the glass with your non-dominant hand.

Rub your dry finger around the rim of the glass while pressing down gently. Observe how it feels. Does your finger stick to the glass or is it gliding smoothly along the rim? Do you hear a sound?

Wet the index finger of your dominant hand with water.

Rub your finger around the rim of the glass again while pressing down gently. Does it feel different than with a dry finger? How much resistance do you feel this time? Does the glass start to sing? Tip: If you hear no sound, try changing the speed and applying more or less pressure to the rim.

While you hear the glass sing, stop rubbing your finger along the rim and take it away from the glass. Does the glass continue to sing or does it stop?

Now make the glass sing again and stop rubbing your finger along the rim but this time leave your finger on the rim on the glass. What happens to the sound this time?

Take a metal spoon and very gently tap the glass on the side. Does this generate a different sound or note compared to when you used your finger to make the glass sing?

If you are using a chromatic tuner, use it to determine the note the glass makes when rubbing it with your finger or hitting it with the metal spoon. You can also compare the note frequency with notes sounded on a piano or keyboard. What note did the glass generate? Can you sing the same note?

Now fill one-third of the glass with water and repeat the procedure. What note does the glass make now? Is it a higher or lower pitch?

Watch the water surface in the glass carefully while you are generating the sound. Does the water surface stay calm or do you see any disturbances?

Take the metal spoon again and very gently tap the glass on the side. Do you get the same note again or is it different?

Again, you can use the reading from the chromatic tuner to determine the note the glass makes when rubbing it with your finger or hitting it with the metal spoon. You can also compare the note frequency with notes sounded on a piano or keyboard. What note did the glass generate this time? Is it different from the previous one? How?

Add more water to the glass so that two-thirds of the glass is filled with water. Rub the rim of the glass again with your damp finger. How does the pitch of the sound change with the different water level ? Did the sound become higher or lower?

Take the metal spoon for the last time and very gently tap the glass on the side. What note do you generate?

Compare the three notes that you generated with each water level (empty, one-third full and two-thirds full). Can you find a relationship between the water level in the glass and the resulting pitch of the note?

If you are using a chromatic tuner, use it again to determine the note the glass makes when rubbing it with your finger or hitting it with the metal spoon. You can also compare the note frequency with notes sounded on a piano or keyboard.

Extra: Try the activity with wine glasses of different sizes and/or shapes. How does the size or shape of the glass change how it sounds? Can you draw any conclusions about the relationship between the size/shape of the glass and its resonance frequency?

Extra: Put one glass close to another wine glass and let it sing. Now hold it so the sound stops. Does the second glass sing instead?

Extra: Take an empty wine glass and put a lightweight object in it, such as a ping pong ball. Rub your damp finger around the rim of the glass, and once the glass starts making a sound, tilt the glass on its side. Be careful not to drop the ping pong ball on the floor. Continue rubbing the glass to make it sing and observe the ball inside. What happens to the ball? Does it sit still on the walls of the glass or does it move?

[break] Observations and results Could you make the wine glass sing with your dry finger? Probably not, as there was too much friction between your finger and the glass rim. To create a stick-slip motion, the finger has to be a little wet. But once the conditions were right, the glass should have generated a clear and beautiful sound. By rubbing along the glass rim with your finger, you made the walls of the glass vibrate; you might even have felt the vibrations in your finger. When you take your finger away from the glass, the glass walls continue to vibrate, thus, still producing a musical note. However, if you stop rubbing the rim and leave your finger touching the glass, your finger will stop the vibrations and the sound stops as well. In a wine glass filled with water, you actually should have been able to see the generated vibrations in the form of a little wave pattern that develops, especially around the glass walls. If you did the extra activity with the ping pong ball, you also probably made the vibrations visible. The ball should dance inside the glass as it gets pushed around by the vibrations of the walls each time it comes in contact with the glass edges.

In each case when you tapped the glass with the metal spoon, you should have heard the same note as when you used your finger. Using the metal spoon is just another method to get the glass walls to vibrate, and the generated sound waves of the glass thus stay the same. Sometimes, even vibrations of one glass can make another glass vibrate and sing if you put them very close together. However, when adding different amounts of water to the glass, you should have noticed that the pitch of the sound changed depending on the water level; the more water you add to the glass, the lower the pitch of the sound you hear. This is due to the fact that the water volume inside the glass makes it much heavier and therefore, it is more difficult for the glass walls to vibrate. That means that the sound wave generated by the vibrations is much slower or has a lower frequency. As the frequency of a note is correlated to its pitch, the pitch produced by the glass goes down as you add more water. If you can use more than one glass, you can play around with different water levels or glass shapes and sizes; each one will have a different resonance frequency and will produce a different note. Try to find different glasses and change water levels to generate each note of the musical scale. Can you play a simple song with your glass harp?

More to explore Why do glass cups make a ringing noise , from SeattlePi Singing Wine Glasses , from Science Buddies Harry Potter theme on glass harp , at YouTube Sonorous Science: Making Music with Bottles , from Scientific American Science Activity for All Ages! , from Science Buddies

This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies

Singing Glasses

What dinner party is complete without a song from the wine glass.

Print this Experiment

What dinner party is complete without a song from the Wine Glass Symphony? You’ll need a few wine glasses, some water, and a tune in mind to demonstrate the sounds of science. Amaze everyone and display incredibly bad manners all at once.

Here's What You'll Need

A few wine glasses (the thin-walled kind work great), vinegar (optional), a bunch of crazy dinner guests.

• Fill the glass about half-full with water.
• Dip your pointer finger into the water (or vinegar) to clean it. Use a napkin to wipe off any dirt or oil on your finger. Clean is good.
• You’ll need a little moisture to help, so dip your finger into the water again.
• Set your clean, moist finger on the rim of the glass, press down slightly, and rub it all the way around the rim without stopping. Keep going in a circular motion along the lip of the glass while maintaining the pressure, and, in almost no time, you’ll have displayed a newfound musical talent.
• Several things have to be just right for a tone to be produced: pressure, moisture, glass type, etc. Keep trying because it’s worth it. Once you get there, it’s hard to stop.

How Does It Work?

You are demonstrating the principle of “stick and slide.” As you rub your finger on the rim, your finger first sticks to the glass and then slides. This stick and slide action occurs in very short lengths and produces a vibration inside the glass which in turn produces a sound. Vinegar helps to clean dirt and oil from your finger. A clean finger improves the stick and slide action. As soon as the first few vibrations are produced, the glass resonates. That means you’re causing the crystals in the glass to vibrate together and create one clear tone. You can change the pitch (highness or lowness of the sound) by adding to or subtracting from the amount of water in the glass. The volume (loud or quiet) can be changed only a little bit by increasing or decreasing the pressure from your finger. Just think about the “jam session” you’ll have with your dinner guests!

Related Experiments

Cornstarch Monsters - Vibrating Cornstarch on a Speaker

Mixing cornstarch and water creates an ooey, gooey substance that behavior both like a solid and a liquid at the same time. Scientists call this […]

Pop Bottle Music

A popular Las Vegas musical act uses tubes, bottles, trash cans, and other common items to make some very cool and distinctive sounds. This just […]

Talking Cups

From the soulful crooning of an R&B singer to the deep roar of thunder, sounds are created by vibrations. So, if you’re looking to make […]

Water Whistle

People have told us that we do things to our own tune. At first we didn’t know what they meant, but then we decided that […]

Browse more experiments by concept:

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Science behind the singing wine glass

A wine glass filled with water (approximately half or a quarter), when you use a wet finger and rub the top of the wine glass, the wine glass will produce a sound. I heard that it is because of the "stick and rub" effect ... Can you explain this effect or other principal that cause this sound to be produced? how much water is least needed to produce a sound? What and why is the relationship between the quantity of the water and the pitch of the sound? Will the sound produced be greater if we use a denser or less dense liquid than water? Thx for explaining :D

• $\begingroup$ I like to learn more about the relationship between the material, shape, size and how that all affect the vibration. What subject should I be looking into? $\endgroup$ –  sooon Commented Sep 9, 2014 at 2:30
• $\begingroup$ Related: physics.stackexchange.com/q/247516/63055 $\endgroup$ –  pentane Commented Jan 6, 2018 at 20:35
• $\begingroup$ @RedGrittyBrick That link seems to be dead $\endgroup$ –  usernumber Commented Jan 10, 2020 at 9:37

Vibrations begin to resonate together into sound waves we can hear. We can make the sounds loud or soft depending on how much pressure we place on finger. The pitch of the sound can also be changed by adjusting the amount of water in the glass.As you rub your finger on the rim, your finger first sticks to the glass and then slides. This stick and slide action occurs in very short lengths and produces a vibration inside the glass which, in turn,produces a sound. Vinegar helps to clean dirt and oil from your finger. A clean finger improves the stick and slide action. As soon as the first few vibrations are produced, the glass resonates. That means you’re causing the crystals in the glass to vibrate together and create one clear tone. You can change the pitch (highness or lowness of the sound) by adding to or subtracting from the amount of water in the glass. The volume (loud or quiet) can be changed only a little bit by increasing or decreasing the pressure from your finger.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged waves acoustics resonance or ask your own question .

• Featured on Meta
• User activation: Learnings and opportunities
• Site maintenance - Mon, Sept 16 2024, 21:00 UTC to Tue, Sept 17 2024, 2:00...

Hot Network Questions

• What is meant by applying operator to a function?
• A journal has published an AI-generated article under my name. What to do?
• PCB layout guidelines Magnetic Sensor
• What is the rationale behind 32333 "Technic Pin Connector Block 1 x 5 x 3"?
• Is a thing just a class with only one member?
• Is it defamatory to publish nonsense under somebody else's name?
• What was the main implementation programming language of old 16-bit Windows versions (Windows 1 - Windows 3.11)?
• BASH - Find file with regex - Non-recursively delete number-only filenames in directory
• The action matters if intention its to just take good action and not action itself?
• Father and Son treasure hunters that ends with finding one last shipwreck (childrens/young adult)
• Is it possible for one wing to stall due to icing while the other wing doesn't ice?
• The quest for a Wiki-less Game
• Is it a correct rendering of Acts 1,24 when the New World Translation puts in „Jehovah“ instead of Lord?
• Subject verb agreement - I as well as he is/am the culprit
• Working principle of the Zener diode acting as a voltage regulator in a circuit
• What would the natural diet of Bigfoot be?
• Navigating career options after a disastrous PhD performance and a disappointed advisor?
• Why was Esther included in the canon?
• Problem with the hinge mechanism of my folding bike (Smart Truck 300, made ~2016)
• Exam class: \numpages wrong when enforcing an even number of pages
• Attacks exploiting decryption failures in KYBER
• Is it safe to use the dnd 3.5 skill system in pathfinder 1e?
• Does my employer contributions count towards the Roth limit of $7k?Roth contributions
• Why was Panama Railroad in poor condition when US decided to build Panama Canal in 1904?

Singing Wine Glass Activity

• Post published: May 5, 2021
• Post category: Education and Outreach Activities

The source of all sound is vibrations.

With this activity below, you will exemplify how vibrations can generate sound by using a simple wine glass and some water. The vibrations created by your fingers moving over the rim of the glass, causing the glass to resonate. This means that you are causing the crystals in the glass to vibrate together at a similar frequency to create one clear tone. You can change the pitch by adding or subtracting water to the glass. The volume can be changed by increasing or decreasing the pressure from your finger on the rim of the glass.

Terms & Concepts:

• Vibrations – Sound is produced when something vibrates, or rapidly moves back and forth. The vibrating body causes waves to move through the medium (air or water), where they eventually reach the delicate skin in our ears. Our brain is able to recognize that these waves or vibrations are sounds made by different things. The shape of these sound waves determines what kind of sound you hear!
• Frequency – the number of vibrations per second. For example, the highest key on a piano vibrates 4,000 times per second so it has a frequency of 4000 hertz (Hz). Lower keys have lower frequencies, with the lowest key on the piano vibrating only 27.5 times per second.
• Resonate – to continue to produce a loud, clear, deep sound for a long time; produce or be filled with a deep, full, reverberating sound
• Pitch – the highness or lowness of sound or the rate at which sound waves are produced (see frequency).
• Volume – the measure of loudness or the height of the sound waves
• Tone – a single frequency. For example, in music, a tone is a single note. Different notes are different tones.
• wine glass – a crystal, thin-walled one works best
• separate glass of water
• wet fingertip
• Ping pong ball (optional)

Instructions:

• Hold the empty wine glass on a tabletop at the base of the stem with one hand.
• Wet the index or middle finger of your other hand with some water.
• Lightly rub your wet finger along the rim of the glass.
• As you rub the glass, you will hear the “singing” sound of the glass. You may have to re-wet your finger periodically and/or adjust the pressure of your finger on the rim of the glass to keep producing the sound.
• You can change the pitch of the sound by adding water to the glass.

Think About It!

• Can you find a relationship between the water level in the glass and the resulting pitch of the note? Does the pitch change with different water levels? Does the water in the glass stay still or do you notice any movement?
• Does the size or shape of the glass change the sounds produced? Can you make any connections between the size and shape of the glass and the sounds/frequencies/pitches produced?
• Put a ping pong ball in the bottom of an empty glass and rub your finger around the rim to make the glass sing. Do you notice any movement with the ping pong ball?

You Might Also Like

Spoon and String Activity

Noisemaker Activity

Cup and String Activity

• Board of Directors
• NMMF Leadership
• News and Media
• NMMF Publications
• Career Opportunities
• Take Action
• Featured Supporters
• Employee Portal

NMMF JOURNAL

Read the latest journal entry from NMMF. 

• Conservation Medicine
• Conservation Biology
• Marine Mammal Care
• Marine Mammal Rescue
• Environmental Stewardship

Help us to improve and protect the life of all marine mammals, humans, and our shared oceans.

• About our Educational Programs
• Educational Workshops
• Youth Initiatives
• Mini Ocean Ambassadors
• Marine Mammal Internship
• Dr. Sam Ridgway StoryFile experience

Join our newsletter to hear the latest NMMF news.

Connect with the National Marine Mammal Foundation.

National Marine Mammal Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3). Tax ID: 26-1501109 | Copyright 2023 Field photography taken under MMPA/ESA Permit No 18786-1 | No images or content may be shared, replicated or used without written consent from the National Marine Mammal Foundation. Privacy Policy & Terms and Conditions

• Career and Volunteer Opportunities
• Conservation Interventions
• Diagnostics and Monitoring
• Vaquita Conservation
• Franciscana Dolphin
• Saving Sea lions
• Killer Whale Protection
• Operation GRACE
• Marine Mammal Hearing
• Minke Whale Hearing
• Stress Physiology
• Biosonar Research
• Sound and Health
• Amazon River Dolphins Acoustic Monitoring
• Stan Kuczaj Fund
• Cetacean Hearing Database
• Animal Health and Welfare
• Animal Care and Training
• About our Education Program
• Upcoming Events: Sign Up
• Youth Initiatives: Get Involved
• Internships
• Kid Zone! Mini Ocean Ambassadors
• Ask the Dolphin Doctor: Interactive Experience
• In the News

Singing wine glasses

Make music with wine glasses and squash, and investigate how changing one variable can affect another.

Make  a musical instrument using wine glasses and water.

ExpeRiment  with different amounts of water in the glasses to see how it affects the sounds you can make.

Learn  about the connection between sounds and vibrations. Discover how running your finger around the rim of a wine glass produces a musical note.

About this activity

Create a wine glass orchestra in your kitchen and explore how sound is caused by vibrations.

Marieke and Tilly experiment with making music and doing science experiments at home. Using wine glasses filled with different volumes of liquids, they investigate how sounds are caused by vibrations and how changing the volume of liquid affects the pitch of the note. Simply rubbing your fingers around the rim of a glass can make an amazing noise. Explore sound, music and science in this fun activity to do with kids.

With enough glasses and little bit of practice you might be able to play 'Ode to Joy' like Marieke!

Singing Wine Glasses

Introduction: Singing Wine Glasses

You may think to make music you just need to drag your finger around the top of a glass filled with water. If you drag just your finger across the glass without cleaning or wetting it, there is too much friction created to have the system (the water and the glass) being to oscillate and no sound could be made.

After you wet your finger, wipe off the oils and dirt, and wet it again, the friction is reduced just enough to allow for a stick-and-slip movement. This gives the correct amount of friction to resonate the glass and achieve resonant frequency. The motion of your hand sets up a wave of vibration traveling through the glass that causes air molecules to vibrate at the same frequency causing sound in the air that is picked up by your ear.

The pitch of the sound can be changed by adding or removing water. This is because as the energy wave moves around the glass, it drags the water molecules with it, creating a wave of water that you can see near the edge of the glass. The water molecules increase the mass (amount of water) of the oscillating system and reduce the energy of the wave traveling through the glass (since it is being absorbed by the water) in turn creating a lower frequency.

• Resonant Frequency – the natural frequency at which an object vibrates
• Resonate – forced vibration
• Frequency – how many sound waves are recorded in a given time at a specific point; related to the pitch of a sound
• Pitch – the distinct tone of a sound; the note of a sound
• Friction – the force of two objects rubbing against one another
• Stick-Slip Motion – when an object is able to stick to an object (or medium) for a short time and then slide once again with no change in the amount of force applied
• Oscillation – a consistent repetitive movement, usually seem as either back and forth (vibration) or up and down
• Oscillating System – a system that goes in a consistent repetitive movement; in this case vibrating

- Glass with a Stem and Flat Bottom (Wine Glass)

- Small Towel OR Paper Towel

- Food Coloring* (Optional)

Step 1: Fill the Glass With As Much or As Little Water As You Would Like. Add Food Coloring If Desired.

Step 2: Dip Your Finger Into the Water and Wipe It on the Towel/paper Towel to Remove Any Excess Oil or Dirt.

Step 3: Time to Make It Sing!

To make the glass sing, dip your finger in water and hold the bottom of the glass with your other hand. Start by lightly pressing and going slowly around the rim of the glass. Be sure to keep your finger in constant contact with the rim of the glass. You will have to experiment with the pressure, speed, and where you touch the rim. Note: Some glasses may only give a slight sound and this will NOT work with plastics or thick glassware.

Step 4: Further Exploration

Physics Girl – How I broke a wine glass with my VOICE

(using Science!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc27GxSD_bI

The Sci Guys – Physics of Sound Part 1: Singing Wine Glasses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN3K9WhzOSs

Glass Duo - Musical Glasses – Harry Potter Theme – LIVE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hOar8dXNbA

roberttiso – Fur Elise on glass harp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47TGXJoVhQ8

GlassDuo – Glass Harp – Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovskly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdoTdG_VNV4

Fumika Mizuno

Rachel McWhirter

Nicole Arnan

Investigating the Effect of Volume of Water on the Frequency

of a Resonating Wine Glass

Table of Contents: Introduction .:. Method .:. Results .:. Conclusion .:. Bibliography .:. Related Websites .:. Go Up

Intro duction

In today’s age, the most common use for wine glasses is obviously to hold wine, but they can also be used to make music. Comprised of upright wine glasses, the glass harp was invented around 1750 and served as the basis of inspiration for Benjamin Franklin’s glass harmonica (Buddies). In order to make different pitches, the amount of water would be uniquely adjusted for each glass, and the musician would rub his/her wet finger along the rims of the different glasses. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as “singing wine glasses” or “glass harp” ( Szafraniec ).

There are several physics concepts that explain the mystery behind singing wine glasses. Resonance is the point where the forced vibration from an external force is equal to the natural frequency of the system ( Giancoli 287). Resonant frequency is the naturally occurring frequency of the object (Resonance). Rubbing a wet finger against the wine glass produces forced vibrations onto the system, causing friction that moves the sides of the glass to move in and out; this movement then moves the air in the glass which results in a musical pitch. As pressure from the finger is applied along the rim, “the sides of the glass move in and out, a pattern that moves the air in the glass, propagating a wave of sound” (Becker). These waves of sound have unique frequencies, or how fast the wave moves up and down, that determine the pitch.

Adding more water to the glass lowers the pitch, because the water makes the glass more massive. This means that it takes more energy to move, so the sound wave will move more slowly with a lower frequency.

In 1983, A.P. French derived a mathematical formula to illustrate the relationship between the resonant frequency of a wine glass and the height of the water level inside (French). He found that if a glass was cylindrical, the relationship would be a perfectly linear line. However, he also found that the formula worked approximately for other cylindrical objects like wine glasses. French’s findings will confirm our hypothesis of a negative correlation between water volume and resonant frequency.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this investigation is to determine the effect that the volume of water inside a wine glass has on its resonant frequency.

If the volume of water in a wine glass is increased, then the frequency at which the glass resonates will decrease since the increased mass requires more energy to move. If the relationship between the independent variable (volume of water in the glass in mL ) and the dependent variable (frequency of resonating glass in Hz) is graphed, the resulting line would appear to be linear. Controlled variables include shape of the wine glass, temperature of the room, and temperature of the water.

Me thod.:. Go Up

• Crystal wine glass (same one for all trials)
• 50 mL graduated cylinder
• Electronic tuner (measures frequency in Hz)

Wet finger was rubbed around an empty wine glass until it produces a “singing” tone. The resulting tone was recorded by holding an electronic tuner close to the glass until the frequency could be recorded. The electronic tuner used was an application “Pitched-Tuner” which measures frequency to the tenth place through the built in microphone of a cell phone. 25 mL of water at room temperature was measured in a graduated cylinder and added to the glass. Wet finger was rubbed around the glass to produce a tone. Frequency was recorded. Water was added in 25 mL increments until 300 mL , frequency was recorded for 13 increments. Glass was dried before each trial. Process was repeated for four trials to obtain accurate results. The room temperature was constant at 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Application used to measure frequency: “Pitched-Tuner”

Res ults.:. Go Up

Processed Data

Data File: Text .:. Excel

Enlarged graph (y-axis does not start at origin) with error bars and quadratic trend line

Graph with entire y-axis shown

Concl usion.:. Go Up

            The results of our experiment demonstrate that as water volume is added to the wine glass, the resonant frequency of the glass decreases. Our hypothesis predicted a decrease in resonant frequency as water volume rose, which is supported by our findings. However, upon analyzing our line of best fit, we deduced that indeed the trend is not linear but quadratic, negating the statement in our original hypothesis that the data would have a linear correlation. French found a perfect linear relationship between resonant frequency and height of water level in cylindrical objects, but the independent variable of French’s experiment was height of water level, while the independent variable for our experiment was volume. The difference in the manipulated variables explains why our hypothesis was not supported, and why our trend line does not appear linear. Additionally, our wine glass is not quite a cylinder, and that may have influenced our results.

            The general explanation for the decaying nature of our graph is that as more water is added to the glass, more energy is required to move it because it is more massive. The vibrations of a more massive object are slower and have a lower frequency, which makes the pitch sound lower to the ear. As the graph shows, the frequency of the pitch changes slowly at first, then much more quickly. A possible explanation for this parabolic nature of our graph may be that the frequency changes depending on the percentage of water filled. To explain, the capacity of our glass was about 320 mL. This means that in a glass with 50 mL inside, adding 25 mL more means that only about 9% of the empty capacity of the glass was filled (320-50=270. 25/270=0.09). However, adding 25 mL to a glass with 275 mL inside means that the added 25 mL takes up much more of the empty capacity left in the glass (320-275=45. 25/45=56%). Because the added 25 mL comprises of a much larger percentage of the empty capacity of the glass when the glass is more full , the frequency changes more dramatically. In other words, the added 25 mL has a bigger effect on a glass that’s almost full versus a glass that’s emptier, which is why our graph is not linear, but parabolic.

To confirm this new hypothesis that the shape of our wine glass produced a quadratic trend line with negative correlation, we would most likely follow the same procedure for our experiment except with wine glasses of varying shapes. For our particular wine glass, we used Google Forms to calculate the quadratic line of best fit, which is y = -0.0041x^2 + 0.2985x + 1319.7. By finding the trend lines for two new glasses with different shapes, we’d be able to better pinpoint and solidify our understanding of the nature of the relationship between resonant frequency and the height of water.

Sources of error abound in this experiment. Although we did our best to accurately measure the volume of water in the graduated cylinder to 25 mL , we most likely did not increase the water level by exactly 25 mL each time. In addition, the quality of our smartphone’s microphone probably interfered with the tuner app’s ability to determine the frequency of our wine glass. As water evaporated from our fingers, that also caused the amount of friction between our fingers and the rim of the wine glass to vary, changing the amount of vibration and frequency slightly. The pressure applied on the rim may also be different for each trial which alters the volume; this may have interfered with the tuner’s ability to accurately pick up the sound. Although we tried to keep the temperature in the room constant, the human bodies in the room and other factors may have changed the temperature slightly. The error bars in our graph were calculated by finding the difference in value between the highest and lowest trials and dividing that number by 2. The graph shows the average for each trial. As the graph illustrates, some error bars are particularly large (like the data point at 200mL), which shows that more controlled experiments are necessary to support our findings.

In order to improve the experiment, we would invest in technology to aid us in accurately increasing the water level by 25 mL each time. Also, we would buy a tuner to use for measuring the frequency rather than using an app on our smartphone in hopes that it would be more accurate. It would also be helpful if we could find a way to mechanize the way the sound is produced from the wine glass so that the pitch is produced in exactly the same way for each trial.

Bibliography .:. Go Up

Becker, Andrea. "Why Do Glass Cups Make a Ringing Noise?" Education - Seattle PI . Hearst Seattle Media, n.d . Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

French, A.P. “In Vino Veritas – A study of wineglass acoustics” Am. J. Phys., Vol.51, No. 8, Aug 1983. 17 Nov. 2016.

Giancoli , Douglas C. Physics: Principles with Applications . 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

"Resonance." Resonance . Georgia State University, n.d . Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

Szafraniec , Anna. "History of the Glass Harp." GlassDuo . GlassDuo , n.d . Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

Related Websites . :. Go Up

http://education.seattlepi.com/glass-cups-make-ringing-noise-3783.html - This site has more good information about the physics behind singing wine glasses.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Music_p008.shtml - How to design and carry out your very own singing wine glass lab!

https://www.surlatable.com/category/TCA-258093/ - Beautiful selection of wine glasses at a not-so-affordable price. This site is good for buying some high quality wine glasses for your own wine glass experiment if you prefer top notch equipment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hOar8dXNbA - For fun, check out this video of a dynamic duo playing the Harry Potter Theme with a set of wine glasses filled at different levels. Neat!

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Sound/reson.html - This site has more information about the resonant frequency of an object.

• WordPress.org
• Documentation
• Learn WordPress

nextlevelkidmin.com

Taking Apostolic Children's Ministry to the Next Level

Singing Glass Wine Experiment

by James Wang Leave a Comment

The kids will definitely be amazed with this experiment. How can you produce sound using wine glasses? Here’s how.

What you need:

• 3 wine glasses
• food coloring

The very first thing you need to do is to wash your hands to remove any oil from it. Then start creating a sound with an empty wine glass. Slightly wet the tip of your finger and lightly touch and drag your finger along the rim of the glass . It might take some time before you produce a sound so keep practicing. Once you produce a sound, fill the wine glasses with different levels of water. Put food coloring to make it look inviting. Hear the difference of the sounds you make with an empty glass wine and the ones filled with different levels of water.

For more cool Science experiments, visit The SciGuys .

share this!

September 10, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

peer-reviewed publication

trusted source

Science fair project leads to new research explaining the glugging effect

by Kat Procyk, University of Pittsburgh

As Rohit Velankar, now a senior at Fox Chapel Area High School, poured juice into a glass, he could feel that the rhythmic "glug, glug, glug" was flexing the walls of the carton.

Rohit pondered the sound, and wondered if a container's elasticity influenced the way its fluid drained. He initially sought the answer to his question for his science fair project, but it spiraled into something more when he teamed up with his father, Sachin Velankar, a professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering.

They set up an experiment in the family's basement and their findings were published in their first ever paper together as father and son.

"I became quite invested in the project myself as a scientist," Sachin Velankar said. "We agreed that once we started on the experiments, we'd need to take it to completion."

The paper is published in the journal Physics of Fluids .

The science behind the glug

Rohit's first experiments found deli containers with rubber lids emptied faster than those with plastic lids.

"Glugging occurs because the exiting water tends to reduce the pressure within the bottle," Velankar said. "When the container is highly flexible, like the bags that hold IV fluids or boxed wine, the container may be able to dispense fluid without glugging. But there are other types of flexible bottles out there, so surely their elasticity must affect its draining."

They created their own ideal acrylic bottles with rubber lids using tools available at Fox Chapel Area High School's makerspace. A sensor was placed near a hole at the bottom of each bottle to measure the pressure oscillations with each glug. The Velankars were able to simulate flexibility by adjusting the diameter of the hole, confirming that flexible bottles drain faster, but with bigger, more infrequent glugs.

Journal information: Physics of Fluids

Provided by University of Pittsburgh

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Scientists discover crude oil decimates sea otter buoyancy

4 hours ago

Over two-million acres of floodplain development occurred in US in last two decades, study finds

5 hours ago

Dams built to prevent coastal flooding can worsen it

6 hours ago

Floquet engineering tunes ultracold molecule interactions and produces two-axis twisting dynamics

Enzyme-inspired catalyst puts chemicals in right position to make ethers

Fluorescent nanomaterial could transform how we visualize fingerprints

7 hours ago

Experimental data help unravel the mystery surrounding the creation of heavy elements in stars

Discovery about ice layer formation in ice sheets can improve sea level rise predictions

8 hours ago

Researchers solve long-standing mystery of alumina surface structure

Microbe dietary preferences found to influence effectiveness of carbon sequestration in deep ocean

Relevant physicsforums posts, why does my ceiling glow in the dark.

Sep 8, 2024

How does output voltage of an electric guitar work?

Sep 6, 2024

Looking for info on old, unlabeled Geissler tubes

Brownian motions and quantifying randomness in physical systems.

Sep 2, 2024

Container in an MRI room

Sep 1, 2024

Hysteresis of a Compressed Solid

Aug 30, 2024

More from Other Physics Topics

Related Stories

Wine, liquor bottles can now be redeemed at California recycling centers

Jan 15, 2024

Yes, you should clean that water bottle, and here's how

Mar 21, 2024

Reusable food containers and food safety

Sep 6, 2022

Bigger bottles keep champagne bubbly for decades: Study

Jun 27, 2023

Cans or bottles: What's better for a fresh, stable beer?

Mar 20, 2023

Bubble dynamics reveal how to empty bottles faster

Apr 7, 2020

Recommended for you

Laser and X-ray combo creates star-like conditions inside a hair-thin wire

11 hours ago

Discovery of a new phase of matter in 2D defies normal statistical mechanics

Sep 11, 2024

Scientists cool positronium to near absolute zero for antimatter research

First neutrinos detected at Fermilab short-baseline detector

Sep 10, 2024

ATLAS probes Higgs interaction with the heaviest quarks

Sep 9, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter