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Well, while I get things arranged with my band, The Noodles, I'm going to send you to

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Ruffner Middle School in Norfolk, Virginia, where you'll see students from the classroom

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of science teacher Ms. Susan Begay and math teacher Mr. Steven Davis.

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They're conducting an experiment examining the speed of sound.

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Follow along and after that, you can make your own analysis and predictions based upon

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their results.

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So I'll catch you all later.

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Hi, we're students from Ruffner Middle School in Norfolk, Virginia.

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NASA Connect asked us to investigate how sound waves travel at different speeds under various

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conditions.

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In this project, we'll be measuring the speed of sound and calculating the percentage of

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error with our science teacher Ms. Begay and our math and science teacher Mr. Davis.

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To prepare the experiment, pour one or two tablespoons of powdered sugar onto the middle

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of four sheets of tissue paper.

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Pull up the corners and tie it with string.

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Make four bags for the experiment and two additional bags in case of accidental breakage.

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Now we're ready to go.

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First, we record the wind direction, weather conditions, and outdoor temperature in Celsius.

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Next, we mark the spot where the sound engineer will hit the pots.

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From this point, we measure out 50 meter intervals.

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The linear speed engineer teams are located at each of these intervals.

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The sound assistants hold up the bulletin board paper to create a dark background behind

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the sound engineer, which will help the speed engineers to see the puff of smoke.

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The sound engineer tapes one of the bags of powder to the middle bottom of the pan.

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When the sound person hits the two pans together, bursting the bag of powder, the linear speed

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engineers start their stopwatches at the first sign of smoke and to stop them as soon as

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they hear a sound.

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Warning, be ready to use a quick reaction time.

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Ready, set, go.

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The experiment is performed at least three times to get a range of data.

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Now we return to the classroom to analyze data.

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Mr. Davis gives us the formula for determining the speed of sound.

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Speed equals distance divided by time.

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Using the data collected, we calculate the speed of the sound at each location.

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We compare results between the locations.

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Mr. Davis asks, what do these numbers represent?

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Next, each group calculates the accepted value for the speed of sound at the recorded outside

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temperature.

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After we've posted our results, Mr. Davis asks us to calculate the percentage of error

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in the experiment using the following formula of amount of error divided by the accepted

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value times 100.

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We had a good time applying math to solve a problem.