What would it be like if you could actally see the sounds around you, with your eyes? Surprisingly, it's possible to do so, thanks to a couple of fairly simple techniques. One way is via Schlieren Photography, which makes the variations in air density caused by temperature and sound waves to become visible. How that's done is explained in the NPR video below (watch for the Millennium Falcon!).
Another way is to use a Ruben's tube. Gas flowing through a small hole flows faster or slower along a standing wave, which creates a visible pattern when the gas is lit on fire. The always-excellent Derek Muller of Veritasium meets a Danish physics teacher who's created a 2-D fire plate that dances to the music played through the speakers in the gas chamber, to create a device that's sure to feature in a nightclub with lenient safety codes somewhere soon:
That's all for this week. Enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you back here on Monday!
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