Why does a long Bonko make a deeper sound than a short Bonko?
Compare two Bonkos that are made of cans of the same size. You’ll find that the longer Bonko makes a lower-pitched sound than the shorter Bonko. Rather than talking about pitch, scientists sometimes talk about a sound’s frequency. Every sound begins with a vibration, and a sound’s frequency is the rate of vibration-the number of times something vibrates in a unit of time. Something that’s vibrating very fast-like the steam rushing out of a whistling teakettle or the metal of a tiny bell-makes a high-pitched, high-frequency sound. Something that’s vibrating more slowly-like the drumhead of a bass drum or the metal of a big bell-makes a low-pitched, low-frequency sound. When air inside a Bonko vibrates, it makes a sound that contains many different frequencies. This complex sound bounces around inside the metal tube. Sometimes vibrations of the same frequency overlap and add together. When that happens, sounds with that frequency get louder. The length of the Bonko helps determine which
