Cool Science Experiments
Movin' you
Background
Talk about cool science experiments – where else do you get to listen to your favorite tunes and in the process get your science fair project done? Well – the answer to that question is right here of course. In this ultimate science fair experiment you are going to test the effect of different music types on the heart rates of some of your friends! Hmmmm...interesting...
Let's do science...
The Experiment
The Aim
To test how different types of music affect the heart rate of the listener -yup, I told you it is one of those cool science experiments. Equipment Needed A stop watch or heart rate monitor.Volunteers – 5 girls and 5 boys (just so that the experiment is fair)A comfortable chair.CD, tape or MP3 playerHeadphonesA variety of CD's, tapes or MP3's with various music types. You need to choose one of each of the following types of songs (each song must be at least 3 minutes long): hard rock / heavy metal, rap, classical, R&B. Method The volunteers must not eat or do any heavy exercise for at least an hour before the experiment – for a nice touch and to say thank you you can give them a snack once the experiment is done!Ask the volunteer to sit in the comfortable chair and create a calm environment (e.g. turn down the lights). After the volunteer has sat relaxing in the chair for 15 minutes, take his heart rate (if you have a heart rate monitor) or his pulse.
(How do you take a pulse?)
This is his/her resting heart rate and is the control in the experiment.Let the volunteer listen to the first song. Make sure the volume is a comfortable level and keep at this level for all the songs. When the other volunteers are listening to the songs, make sure they listen to the songs in the same order as the first volunteer.Take the volunteers' pulse rate half way through the song and as soon as it is finished.After the song, let the volunteer rest for three minutes or until his heart rate returns to the resting heart rate.Repeat this procedure for all the songs.Take note of the heart rates in your
logbook.
Once you have the results from all of the volunteers, work out the average for the resting rate and all of the songs.Results
For your results you will compare averages of the heart rates for all the songs and the resting heart rates. They can be displayed using a
chart.
The Conclusion
You will notice that the heart rates change according to the music that the volunteers listened to. Have fun with one of the coolest of cool science experiments and find out what happens with each music type!
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