Frequency of Sound from Singing Sand
Kyoshin Nishiyama, Senji Mori · Japanese Journal of Applied Physics · 1982
The singing sand from Kotobikihama, when placed in a container, emits a musical sound on being struck with a rod. The frequencies of the sound have been studied under various conditions of rod and container. The results of our experiment can be accounted for by the “spring model” in which the rod, the container and part of the sand constitute a vibrating system with the sand playing the role of a spring. The spring constant is estimated as about 4.8×108 dyn/cm. Another way to estimate the spring constant is from the relation between the pressure and the displacement of the rod when the rod is pushed into the sand slowly. The agreement between these two spring constants is fairly good.