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Sent in by:
Betsy of Bronx NY
Rrrring, rrrring, rrrring. It's a telephone made from string.
- two plastic cups
- some string
- paper clips
- sharpened pencil for poking holes
- With the pencil, carefully poke a small hole in the bottom of each plastic cup.
- Tie the paper clip to one end of the string.
- Thread the other end of the string through the hole in the bottom of one of the cups. Be sure to thread it from the inside of the cup. The paperclip will keep the string from going all the way through the hole.
- Then thread the string through the hole in the second cup, but this time do it from the outside of the cup.
- Tie the second paper clip to the other end of the string. The paper clip should be inside the cup, just like the first paper clip.
- Then, pull the cups so that the string is tight and have one person talk into the cup while the other person holds the cup to their ear.
Now it is time for you to experiment. Think of a question you want answered. Like, what is the farthest distance you can get the telephone to work using string? Would the sound go farther if you used empty soup cans instead of plastic cups? What about using two different sized cups? Make a prediction. Then change one thing-that's the variable-and test it out. Be sure to tell us what you thought was going to happen and what actually did happen. When you're done, send your reports to our special feedback area. Every week we'll post new results from ZOOMers' string telephone experiments.
Neha & Deepti, age 8 of Franklin, MA wrote:
When we used hay string it did not work, but when we used metal string it worked.
Vanshika, age 7 of Auckland, NZ wrote:
Awesome it worked great. especially with yarn. you could feel the vibrations with the fishing line.
Caitlyn, age 8 of KY wrote:
i used a real phone wire insted of a string. It was awsome!!!
Sydney, age 6 of Castle Rock, CO wrote:
We used three different types, fishing line, string, and yarn. The yarn made the loudest sound but we could feel the vibration best on the fishing line!
George, age 9 of GA wrote:
next time, use foam cups.
Kevin, age 14 of San Antonio, TX wrote:
you could hear person on the other side of the room. if you put your finger on the string you could feel the vibrations. it made a awsome way to scare my brother. thank you fellow zoomers.
Catherine, age 12 of WA wrote:
Instead of using two plastic cups I used two cans and I didnt work as well. I think i'll stick to plastic cups for now.
Noelle, age 12 of Gig Harbor, WA wrote:
We used thread and it didn't work because it was too small. Then I got some of my knitting yarn and it worked so cool! The bigger string carried the vibration better.
Roland of Oxford wrote:
We could hear one another, albeit quietly. We were doing this over 38 meters, though, so to be expected.
Sarah, age 16 of Brentwood, CA wrote:
Apparently when I tried the string phone we talked and the string vibrated in circles. the sound was wierd. but I want to know how to make a metal telephone to go to my brothers room but I don't know the materials for the metal phone.
Jessica, age 13 of Brooklyn, NY wrote:
it didnt work... no matter what I did it didnt work. I used all different strings and cans.
Amani, age 7 of College Park, GA wrote:
When the string was loose it did not work. But it worked when the string was pulled tight. I could feel the vibrate when the other person talked to me. It was cool!
ZOOM FAN, age 11 of Nashville, TN wrote:
My sister and I tried it. it is fun to listen to the other person while they are saying ahh, or another long vowel and pinch the string over and over again. it breaks up and sounds way cool!
Su-Ji, age 7 of Plano, TX wrote:
I can little bit hear what someboby is saying.(I can realy hear it!)
Julianna, age 7 of Baton Rouge, LA wrote:
I could hear but could not always understand.
Jasmine, age 8 of Scarborough, ON wrote:
I was talking to my dad at the string phone. my dad was in the room and I was out the room then, we closed the door and starte talking at the string phone. we heard some sounds when we were talking and I found out that the string has to be straight so you can understand what the person is saying. The string phone was awesome! that was my first awesome expirement on science!
Isaac, age 9 of Cranbrook wrote:
I made a string telephone and when we were testing it mum could send rude noises down the line.
Josh of North Baltimore, OH wrote:
IT WORKED EUREKA!!! The plaper telephone cup worked brilliantly, but remember keep that string tight!
The First Graders of Spartanburg, SC wrote:
It worked wonderful! We loved the experiment.
Warren, age 11 of Georgetown, TX wrote:
It Worked I actully could talk with my friend
Karuna, age 13 of Houston, TX wrote:
This is so cool! It was weird at first but now me and my friend try it all the time!!! We can talk to each other, and guess what? - NO PHONE BILL!!!
Glendon, age 9 of Chicago wrote:
you have to hold the string tight so you can hear
ZOOM Fan, age 6 of London wrote:
We put cups to our ears and covered our other ear and then we talked. It worked sometimes.
Phoebe, age 9 of Sydney, NJ wrote:
First it was all fuzzy but we got kind of a weird signal in the end but it was just inspiring!!!
Danijah, age 11 of Georgetown wrote:
it was so cool we use it all the time now. it sounded so blurry and weird.
Paul, age 5 of Turner Valley, AB wrote:
It kind of sounded very weird at first, but then it actually sounded OK after. I figured the string had to be really tight!
ZOOM Fan wrote:
It kind worked when the string was tight but it was so close you could still hear whoever was talking so we couldn't tell if we could hear throuht the cup or not. It sounded very muffled.
Riley, age 13 of Syracuse, NY wrote:
It sounded weird and fuzzy
Meara, age 11 of Trim, IRE wrote:
it was good, and we learnt that if you put a cup to your ear you can do stuuuuf
Emma, age 12 of Trim, IRE wrote:
It works better with a big cup than it does with a small cup.
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