How to Read a Tenth of an Inch on a Regular Tape Measure

Build a Paper Speaker

Summary

30-45 minutes

30-45 minutes

Electricity, magnetism, vibration, sound

Ben Finio, PhD, Scientific discipline Buddies

Introduction

Do you lot think you tin build a working speaker out of paper? If you lot similar listening to music, this project is for you!

This action is not recommended for use as a scientific discipline fair project. Good science fair projects have a stronger focus on controlling variables, taking accurate measurements, and analyzing information. To discover a science off-white projection that is simply right for you, browse our library of over 1,200 Science Fair Project Ideas or use the Topic Selection Wizard to go a personalized project recommendation.

Materials

• Printable paper speaker template
• 1/two inch diameter, one/two inch long neodymium magnet
• 30 AWG enameled magnet wire
• two-position spring wire connectors
• 3.v mm sound cable with bare wire ends
• Computer, tablet, or smartphone with 3.5 mm "headphone" jack. If y'all have a newer phone without a headphone jack, you will demand an adapter.
• Scissors
• Hot mucilage gun or school mucilage
• Fine-grit sandpaper

Instructions

Safety Notes about Neodymium Magnets:

Neodymium magnets are very strong. Adult supervision is recommended when using them. Practice not permit the magnets slam together. They may pinch your fingers or crack. Keep them away from small children, pets, credit cards, and pacemakers.

1. Print the template on cardstock. Your speaker will work with regular printer paper, but it will not be equally loud.

2. Wrap one of the long, narrow strips of paper tightly around the magnet.

3. Cut all the pieces of the template out along the solid lines.

4. As you hold the newspaper-wrapped magnet firmly in place, begin wrapping the second long, narrow strip of paper around the first strip. Now use a dab of glue to concord the outer strip of paper in identify so it does not unwind when you allow go.

5. Pull near 1 foot (30 cm) of wire from the spool of magnet wire. This extra length of wire will be used later on to connect to the speaker.

6. Working away from this extra length of wire, carefully, and tightly wrap fifty turns of wire from the spool effectually the paper tube to create a scroll. The measured human foot of wire should be left gratis at the starting time of the curlicue.

7. Measure out another foot of wire to leave complimentary at the end of the coil and cut the wire.

8. Twist the 2 loose wires together and secure the coil with a few dabs of glue so it does not come unwound.

9. After the glue has dried, push the magnet and the inner tube of paper out of the coil.

10. Fold the large rectangular piece from the template along the dashed lines. Begin past folding the edges of the paper inwards and continue back and forth to form an squeeze box shape.

11. Glue the roll to the dashed circle on the accordion piece. Permit the glue to dry.

12. Flip the squeeze box piece upside down. Using the small rectangle from the template as a base, glue the 2 accordion legs to the shaded areas of the rectangle. This completed piece will be the principal torso of the speaker.

13. Bend the cone slightly to glue the angled tab onto the shaded area. Allow the gum to dry.

14. Glue the bottom, smaller opening of the cone to the top of the speaker.

15. Use sandpaper to strip the insulation from almost 1 cm of each end of the wire. Fold the sandpaper in one-half, pinch the wire between the sides of the sandpaper with your fingers, and pull along the wire.

16. Repeat this multiple times while you rotate the wire. It tin can be hard to tell when the insulation is removed, but if you lot expect very closely, you should see that the underlying wire is a different color than the insulation.

17. One at a time, press downward on a leap clip and insert one end of the magnet wire into the clip. Repeat for the other wire then they are next to each other.

18. Connect the loose wire ends of the audio cablevision to the other ends of the bound clips. There are three wires inside the audio cable: black (ground), red (left audio aqueduct), and white (right audio aqueduct). You need to connect the ground wire and i of the sound channels. Select the blackness wire and either the red or white wires, and connect them to the spring clips.

19. Gently pull the top and bottom parts of the speaker apart, far enough that you tin can slide the magnet inside the coil, so let go and put the speaker down. The coil should sit down over the magnet with the magnet resting on the base of the speaker. You practise not need to glue the magnet in place—it is heavy enough that information technology will exist held in place by its own weight. This allows you to easily remove information technology if y'all decide to exam another speaker.

20. Plug the iii.5 mm cable into the headphone jack of your phone, tablet, or computer.

21. Brand sure the volume on your device is all the style up, and try playing some music!

    Tin can you hear music coming from your speaker? How loud is it compared to a "regular" speaker?

22. If you practise not hear any music, attempt these troubleshooting steps and follow along with the video:

    1. Make sure you have the correct sound source selected on your phone or calculator. For example, brand sure yous are non connected to a Bluetooth headset or speakers.
    2. Check that the volume on your device is turned all the fashion upwardly.
    3. Check that the 3.five mm cable is firmly plugged into the headphone jack.
    4. Make sure the leap clips are gripping the exposed metallic parts of the 3.v mm cable, not the insulated parts.
    5. Make sure you fully stripped the insulation off of the ends of the magnet wire.
    6. Brand sure the exposed parts of the ii magnet wires are not touching each other. This will create a brusque circuit.
    7. Make certain the magnet is not rubbing confronting the inside of the paper tube, as this volition add friction and subtract the speaker'due south vibrations.
    8. Marshal the wire coil and so it is around the top of the magnet. Magnetic fields quickly get much weaker with distance. If the coil and the magnet are besides far away from each other, your speaker will not work.

What Happened?

It might non be as loud as the speakers on your telephone or reckoner, but y'all should hear audio coming from your paper speaker! Cheque out the Digging Deeper section to learn more about how your paper speaker works.

Excavation Deeper

When your telephone or computer plays music, it sends an electrical current through the headphone cablevision. This current travels through the wire curl in your speaker. The wire coil acts every bit an electromagnet: when electrical current travels through information technology, information technology generates a magnetic field. This magnetic field interacts with the magnetic field of the permanent magnet within the coil. The resulting magnetic forces button and pull the cone of the speaker up and down, causing it to vibrate. These vibrations pass to nearby air molecules, generating a audio wave that travels through the air to your ears so you can hear the music!

Inquire an Expert

Curious about the science? Post your question for our scientists.

For Further Exploration

• Endeavour making your ain paper speaker instead of using the template. Yous can keep the same bones design but change parts, similar making a bigger or smaller cone. Yous can besides use different materials, like a paper or plastic loving cup for the cone. What speaker design gives you the all-time audio?
• What happens if you alter the number of turns in your gyre of wire? Does this change the loudness or sound quality of your speaker?
• How does your speaker sound when yous play different types of music? Does it seem to do a improve job playing low-frequency bass notes or higher-frequency treble notes?

Projection Ideas

Science Off-white Project Idea

Can you lot build a working speaker out of paper? How does a speaker's ability to play low or high-pitched notes depend on its size? Explore the science of audio in this project as you lot build and test your own speakers in guild to answer these questions! Read more

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Source: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/make-a-paper-speaker

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