Internet Version [Naruhodo no Mori] Vol.21
by Yumiko Mori
Vol. 21 September 15th, 1996
Stethoscope
Home science experiments for mothers of elementary school children
[Scene #1]
Tae: "Mom, can I borrow this?"
Mom: "Yes, you can. But what are you going to listen to?"
Tae: "King's heart."
King is a our 6 month old kitten, his color being black with white markings.
He is sleeping, not knowing what is going to happen.
Tae listens to Mom's hand-made stethoscope.
Tae: "I can hear! It's quite fast."
Mom: "We can compare King with Satoshi."
Three years old Satoshi, Tae's younger brother, is having a nap next to King.
Mom: "Listen! You can hear his breathing sound from his back."
Tae: "Really, I want to listen! Please! "
Tae (listening to Satoshi's back) "Yeah! I can hear too. Next,
I'm going to hear King's purring."
Of course you can hear cat's purring sound without a stethoscope.
But through a stethoscope it sounds quite differently.
Mom: "I wish I could have listened to my stomach
when I was still pregnant with Satoshi.
I could have listened to the baby's heart beats."
Tae: "If you want to do that, how about having another baby?
I wish a younger sister."
Mom: "Well, I don't think I can have another one.
I'll wait until you're having a baby, Tae!"
[Scene #2]
Ai: "What are you doing now?"
Ai, a 1st grade girl living across the road, is asking a question.
Ai and Tae have just come out to the yard.
Mom is listening to a drooping cherry tree with a stethoscope.
Tae: "Mom, are you doing again? Did you hear yet? Ai, my mom is listening to the tree."
Mom: "Not yet. I cannot hear anything.
I heard on a sunny day at 8 o'clock in the morning or 2 o'clock in the afternoon
is the best to hear a tree."
Ai: "I want to try. Can I borrow? "
Ai has never experienced stethoscope before.
Ai: "I can here like 'zzzzzz"."
Mom: "Really?"
Tae: "I try too. Yes it sounds like 'zzzzzzz'."
Mom: "Isn't it like bubbling'? Why can't I hear?"
Both girls disappear from the garden while Mom is still trying to hear the sound.
Tree sound
- For who are interested in tree sound, check
- URL
http://www.tuat.ac.jp/~biomtrl/eindex.html
Materials
-
| Two air tubes | 50 cm long (we bought from a pet shop) |
| Paper cup | 1 cup |
| Rubber band | 2 pieces |
| Wrapping Films | 13 cm wide |
| Glue | |
| Scissors |
How to assemble a stethoscope
Required time: 10 min to assemble a stethoscope
(not including glue drying period)
- Cut a paper cup at 3 cm from the bottom.
- On the bottom of the cup, make two holes with a pencil or a pen.
These holes for tubes to go through. Be careful not to make holes too large.
- Insert tubes into the holes. Glue them.
- Cover the top of the cup with a piece of wrap and put a rubber band around it.
- Stretch the wrap so that the wrap becomes under tension.
- Finished!
Sounds you may want to listen to
* Tubes should go into your ears firmly.
If they are loose, you may put bandage around the tubes.
* If you use straws instead of tubes,
You make a small cut and attach to a paper cup with a piece of Scotch tape.
It will be uncomfortable to insert a straw end directly into you ear.
Cover the end with a Band Aid.
Straws are more difficult to handle than tubes.
Listen to unheard sound
Since I heard someone was able to listen tree sound, I got obsessed with stethoscopes.
This summer we went to mountains.
When I was about to listen to a tree with my stethoscope, suddenly a helicopter came over us.
It was so loud, I couldn't hear anything.
Anyhow since I started to play with my stethoscope,
I've realized we are surrounded by all sorts of unwanted noise.
I think it wasn't so noisy many years ago.
When we visit a doctor the next time,
we make sure to be quite while the doctor is using
a stethoscope.
| Author | Yumiko Mori (Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan) |
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| Illustration | Mitsue Ogata |
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| Translator | Akira Ishihara |
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| HTML format | Muneo Kume |
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Copyright © 1996 Rika no Heya & Yumiko Mori
