Hi
My mane is Mark King. I teach in O’Connells Primary school in North East Inner City Dublin. Science is a subject that has fascinated me from childhood. The magic of science caught my attention as a child and it is brilliant to see children experience that same awe and fascination. My favorite fun fact from science is that there is no sound in space
Classroom Activity; Sound in Space
Children find it very difficult to comprehend that there is no sound in space. Video games and films contradict this with booming lasers and space ships blowing each other up. I find the a lesson on how sound works is an ideal way of helping them to understand the lack of noise in space.
Simple ways to do this are lessons that show that sound is caused by vibrations through the air. Ask children to gently scrape a coin on their desk . Their partner has to listen to see if they can hear the scraping. They will hear a feint scraping sound as the vibrations have to travel through the air. The child then puts their ear to the table while their partner scrapes the coin on the table. The vibrations are more intense and the sound is louder. After the lesson explain to the children that the coin caused vibrations in the air to make the sound. There is no air in space therefor the are no vibrations. No air means no sound