February 7, 2013
Joey Scanlon, a sophomore, plays bass drum in Chantilly’s marching band so he investigated the effect of temperature on the pitch of a snare drum. “In marching band, when we start in August, it’s warmer,” he said. “But it’s colder in November, toward the end of our season, so we have to tune our drums differently. And I thought the temperature might be affecting the pitch.” So Scanlon exposed his drum to different temperatures; he put it in a 100-degree oven and also refrigerated it until it hit 40 degrees. “I thought the drum would have a higher pitch in cooler temperatures because colder weather causes the head of the drum to tighten,” he said. “And I was right.”
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