• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Science / How do tin-can telephones work?

How do tin-can telephones work?

July 14, 2020 by Karen Hill

Tin-can telephones do work, actually. The concept is pretty basic:

When a person places her mouth inside the opening of a can and talks, the sound from her voice vibrates against the bottom of the can.

These vibrations travel down the string and make the bottom of the other person’s can vibrate, too, transmitting the speaker’s voice into the listener’s ear.

What works even better than a tin can is a paper cup. It has less resistance, so the sound vibrates even better. But it’s imperative that the string be pulled tightly all the way across, or it won’t vibrate well enough to transmit sound.

This concept is actually very similar to the way a telephone works. While a telephone uses electricity to transmit the sound vibrations, the principle is the same.

It’s just as we always thought: play is educational.

Related Facts

  • History of Telephones
  • 15 Inventions You Wish You Invented
  • How Does a Telephone Carry Your Voice?
  • How do piano tuners tune a piano using a tuning fork and intervals?
  • Why Is It Possible To Hear People Talk From Across a Lake At Night?
  • Why Does Thunder Sound Like a Sharp Crack, and Sometimes Like a Low Rumble?

Filed Under: Science

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Do more accidents happen when people drive while talking on their cell phones?
Next Post: What else did Alexander Graham Bell invent besides the telephone? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy