Mechanical-acoustical analogy: From laboratory to home during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

A clear comprehension of the oscillatory nature of sound for acoustics undergraduate students is of paramount importance. In this paper, two online experiments were implemented to aid teaching of the oscillatory nature of sound through the analogy between a mechanical mass-spring model and a Helmholtz resonator. The study was conducted among undergraduate students taking a science course in the Electronic and Electrical Engineering career curriculum. These in-class experiments were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic via the Zoom platform. Students measured the Helmholtz resonant frequency of a plastic bottle with a smartphone application and compared its oscillatory behavior with that of a conventional harmonic oscillator under a professor–student collaborative environment. The results of this study suggest that, with careful experiment design, students can effectively benefit from the use of common technology tools, which, in turn, poses these methodologies as a rather satisfactory alternative to face-to-face laboratory sessions.