An apparatus designed by August Kundt (1839–94) in 1866 to measure the speed of sound in various

fluids. It consists of a closed glass tube into which a dry powder (such as lycopodium) has been
sprinkled. The source of sound in the original device was a metal rod clamped at its centre with a piston
at one end, which is inserted into the tube. When the rod is stroked, sound waves generated by the
piston enter the tube. If the position of the piston in the tube is adjusted so that the gas column is a
whole number of half wavelengths long, the dust will be disturbed by the resulting stationary waves
forming a series of striations, enabling distances between nodes to be measured. The vibrating rod can
be replaced by a small loudspeaker fed by an oscillato.

How it works

The tube is a transparent horizontal pipe which contains a small amount of a fine powder such as cork
dust, talc or Lycopodium.[3] At one end of the tube is a source of sound at a single frequency (a pure
tone). Kundt used a metal rod resonator that he caused to vibrate or 'ring' by rubbing it, but modern
demonstrations usually use a loudspeaker attached to a signal generator producing a sine wave. The
other end of the tube is blocked by a movable piston which can be used to adjust the length of the tube.

The sound generator is turned on and the piston is adjusted until the sound from the tube suddenly gets
much louder. This indicates that the tube is at resonance. This means the length of the round-trip path
of the sound waves, from one end of the tube to the other and back again, is a multiple of the
wavelength λ of the sound waves. Therefore, the length of the tube is a multiple of half a wavelength. At
this point the sound waves in the tube are in the form of standing waves, and the amplitude of
vibrations of air are zero at equally spaced intervals along the tube, called the nodes. The powder is
caught up in the moving air and settles in little piles or lines at these nodes, because the air is still and
quiet there. The distance between the piles is one half wavelength λ/2 of the sound. By measuring the
distance between the piles, the wavelength λ of the sound in air can be found. If the frequency f of the
sound is known, multiplying it by the wavelength gives the speed of sound c in air:

{\displaystyle c=\lambda f\,} c = \lambda f \,

The detailed motion of the powder is actually due to an effect called acoustic streaming caused by the
interaction of the sound wave with the boundary layer of air at the surface of the tube.[4]

METER STICKS

Meter sticks are used to measure objects that are larger than a piece of paper. Remember that you can
use centimeters and millimeters if the object is smaller than a piece of paper. Those items are easily
measured with a ruler. A meter stick is a little over 3 feet long, because a meter is approximately 3.2
feet.
The importance of knowing your lab
equipment
Posted on October 12, 2011
You should always know your lab equipment well before you do any type of experiment because
without the proper knowledge of your equipment you will not know how to use your materials or
how to correct a mistake that you could make with your equipment.  Science can be fun but it can
also be dangerous because you can be working with any kind of objects, chemicals, or minerals that
may be able to harm you or someone else.  You must know your lab equipment and how to use it for
not only your experiment but also faults that may occur during or after the experiment.  This is why I
feel it is important to know your lab equipment.

If you work in a laboratory setting, you undoubtedly encounter many kinds of expensive and
complicated instruments and machines. Knowing how to use these tools can only benefit you. This is
especially true if you are expected to use them while pursuing your area of research and testing. Not
knowing what you are doing can set you back in a variety of ways.

Safe\ Handling

Lab equipment can have dangerous side effects if not handled properly. Something as simple as a
Bunsen burner can light surrounding objects on fire, cause property damage and potentially harm
your fellow lab denizens if it is handled incorrectly or carelessly. More complicated machines that
use high-powered magnets, for instance an MRI scanner, can harm the subject or surrounding area if
the technician operating it allows metal objects within its scanning range. Knowing how to safely
operate all lab equipment in your purview will limit these kinds of accidents and create a safe
working environment.

Efficient Use

Lab machines are complex scientific tools. They often feature more than a simple "On" switch.
Sensitive calibrations must be done to ensure that the task is carried out exactly as the experiment or
study requires. A scale must be set to "zero" when nothing is on it so that any added weight is
measured accurately on the display for instance. This ensures that the machine does its job
effectively and wastes as little time and energy as possible. This benefits you by speeding up the rate
at which you can perform your analyses, and it benefits the machine by allowing it to run within its
recommended parameters and serve the lab for as long as possible.