


Study how sound vibrations can transfer from one wine glass to another

Suitable For

Grade 7



Time Required

 <24 Hours



What’s it about?

Resonance is simply another word for vibration. When you tap a wine glass, it makes a sound at a particular pitch, like a chime. It is ‘resonating’ at that pitch which has a particular frequency, for example 400 beats per second.

You can make a wine glass vibrate by tapping it, but you can also make it vibrate by making a sound that is very close to its resonance frequency. This is called ‘sympathetic resonance’ because the glass is vibrating in ‘sympathy’ with the original sound. You can see this effect in the following science experiment if you take two identical wine glasses, tap one and hold it close to the other. The other one will begin vibrating a little, even though you didn’t tap it:

Topics covered

Sound conductor, Sympathetic resonance

What will I need?


Procedure (Method)


How does it work?


Because sound travels in waves, it causes vibrations or ‘resonance’. When a pitch vibrates at a given frequency it can send a similar-pitched item into vibration. This is called ‘sympathetic resonance’ and in this science experiment the similar pitched wine glasses causes one another to vibrate.

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