Insert the nut into the balloon.
Blow up the balloon and tie its end.
Hold the balloon in one hand at the end you have tied.
Gently swirl the balloon around in a circle.
Swirl the balloon faster and slower. What happens?
Your fingers can get in the way here so you may need to hold the balloon higher up. Sometimes holding the balloon from below as well can help.
School science visits since 2004!
– Curriculum-linked & award-winning incursions.
– Over 40 primary & high school programs to choose from.
– Designed by experienced educators.
– Over 2 million students reached.
– Face to face incursions & online programs available.
– Early learning centre visits too!
Online courses for teachers & parents
– Help students learn how science really works
Get the Unit of Work on Sound here!
- What is amplitude?
- What is frequency?
- How does sound travel and what does it look like and more!
Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more
Why Does This Happen?
This experiment works due to the corners of the nut vibrating skin of the balloon. The faster the vibrations, the higher the pitch.
This experiment can also be used to demonstrate that when you sping something, the material moves outwards. Think of washing machines when they enter a spin cycle, the water is sent outwards. The same happens on Gravitrons that you see at amusement park rides, where in this case you’re pushed outwards against the rotating cylinder. This is called rotational inertia, whereby an object with sufficient momentum will tend to keep moving around the outside of a circle due to the centripetal motion of the spinning circle. i.e. the nut tries to escape out of the balloon in a straight line but the balloon’s shape forces it to travel around in a circle.
Variables to test
- Change the speed of your balloon rotations
- Change the size of the nut or coin inside the balloon
- Change the type of balloons that you use.
- Change the size of the balloons that you use.
From frequency & amplitude through to echoes & wave distortions, we’ve got your unit on sound covered!
Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class.
Science of Sound
Years 1 to 6
30 to 60 students
Show or workshop (NSW & VIC)
60 or 90 minutes
Online Class Available
STEM Full Day Accelerator - Primary
Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials.
I love the idea.😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍and I am going to do it
Awesome! It’s amazing when you get a bunch of people running it together. Don’t do it too long or the heat from the nut will warm the balloon and pop it 🙂
Have fun!
hey! This is an amazing experiment. Do you think it would work the same way if water was used to fill the balloon?
Interesting idea! Please let us know what happens 🙂
Fun experiment but my teacher took it away😡😡😡
Oh no! Oh well, it does make a fair bit of noise… guessing that the experiment worked 🙂