Can you hear me now? Learn how to make a DIY Cup Phone!
How do phones allow us to talk to people who are so far away? We can find out by making a DIY cup phone using things you might have around the house.
Telephones turn sound waves into electricity that can be sent using cables. Once the sound electricity reaches you, magnets are used to convert the electrical signals back into sound waves. The sound vibrates the air around it, so you can hear what the person on the other end of the line is saying.
Ready to make your own? Follow the written steps below!
Materials you will need:
- 2 Styrofoam or paper cups
- Twine or other string
- Scissors
- Markers (these are optional!)
Directions
Step 1: Use the scissors to poke a hole in the bottom of each cup.
Step 2: String a piece of twine between the cups by pushing each end of the string inside the holes you just made. Use a long piece of string to help the sound travel farther.
Step 3: Tie a knot in the end of the string inside the cups to keep the cups from falling off.
Step 4: Feel free to decorate your cups with markers if you want, but there's nothing wrong with keeping them plain!
Step 5: To use the phone, all you have to do is talk into the cup while someone else holds the other cup to their ear. Make sure to keep the string tight; if the string is sagging, the sound won't travel effectively!
The Science of Cup & String Phones
- You may have heard that sound travels - but how?
- Sound is made up of waves that we can hear. These sound waves are formed by objects vibrating, or shaking back and forth very quickly.
- Sound travels through air, water, and solid objects as vibration.
- The sound of your voice vibrates the cup, which cases the string to vibrate, too, as sound travels down it.
- Our ears collect the sound vibration, where nerves send them to our brain.
- Our brains process the signals, and then we hear the sound!