Audience
Students
Grade Levels
Grades 5-8
Subject
Physical Science, Waves, Flight and Aeronautics, Sound
Type
Hands-on Activities, Interactive Multimedia, Lesson Plans / Activities, Videos
Noise: Chevrons Student Guide (Grades 6-8)
Build a Chevron Activity.
NASA research engineers like Danielle Koch (see page 9) study acoustics, and different ways to make jet engines quieter. If you’ve ever been at or near an airport, you know how much noise pollution comes from jet engines, especially as they take off and prepare to land. Lessening the noise from jet engines can help reduce the impact aircraft have, which is something NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate works on every day.
Today, you will become an acoustics engineer as you work on reducing the noise that comes from a Thunder Drum, which will simulate a jet engine. Your task will be to build a “chevron,” which is an attachment or specific shape that is part of the trailing end of an engine to reduce noise coming from a jet engine. NASA engineers developed the chevron, which is used on engines today. The chevron changes how sound waves from hot air inside the engine mix with the waves from the cooler air on the outside of the engine. The mixing of the hot and cold air cause turbulence, which in turn causes increased noise. The Thunder Drum you will be using today will not be using hot or cold air, but will be using sound waves coming out of the end of the drum.