Harrison Malec

Abstract:
The temperature of the room was determined using a large graduated cylinder and a
tuning fork.
Procedure:
We were given a graduated cylinder, a plastic bucket, a long rubber tube, and tuning
forks of various frequencies. The rubber tube was connected to an opening at the
bottom of the graduated cylinder. On the other end, the rubber tube protruded through
the bottom of the plastic bucket. Once this was set up, water was poured into the plastic
bucket and the water flowed into the cylinder. Water was allowed to flow into the plastic
bucket until there was about 40cm of air remaining in the cylinder. One of the tuning
forks was struck and placed above the top of the cylinder. The plastic bucket was moved
up or down to allow the water levels in the cylinder to fluctuate. With the tuning fork
still resonating above the beaker everyone listened until the cylinder produced the
loudest sound. The water level at which the loudest sound was produced, was recorded.
This procedure was repeated with the different tuning forks.

Data:

1
f
0.00313

4L
1.1

0.00382

1.33

0.00260

0.85

0.00208

0.7

0.00195

0.64

0.00098

0.3

0.00293

1.04

Analysis:

This Graph was created so that its slope would allow one to find the temperature of the
room. The group started with the equation:
V =f
V is the velocity of sound, and this is the one unknown in our equation. The velocity will
eventually allow us to determine the temperature of the room. F is the frequency, and
the frequency is simply written on the tuning fork. Lambda is wavelength, and this can
be determined by rewriting the equation to this:
V =f ( 4 L)

We are allowed to rewrite lambda as 4L because we know that the sound is traveling
through a closed tube. The equation for a closed tube look like:
1
L=
4
When you solve for lambda you arrive at the 4L. Finally, we rearrange the equation so
that it is in y=mx +b format. Since the frequency of the tuning fork is the thing which
we are manipulating it becomes our x-value, or the independent variable. Therefore, we
have to isolate it from the y-value. Our y-value is the 4L because it is the value that is
dependent on the frequency of tuning fork. Finally, the velocity of sound is the m-value,
so this represents our slope. Our final equation will look like:
v
=4 L
f
The graph gives us a slope of 343.662. With this value we are able to plug it into another
equation to find the temperature of the room:
v =331.4+0.6 T celsius
If you plug the value of 343.662 in for the value of V, you solve for T and arrive at a
temperature of 19.33 degrees celsius which is about 67 degrees fahrenheit.
Error:
The temperature our group arrived at, is a reasonable temperature. Most people will
heat their houses at a temperature of 70 degrees fahrenheit. 67 degrees is very close to
this temperature, so it seems as though there was little error when performing this lab.
The slightest error will occur when trying to determine the location where the beaker
and tuning fork are the loudest. Our group approximated the height of the water and
normally rounded off the value to the nearest half. Again we were not far off the
standard temperature of most rooms, so our group was successful.