Eli5- How does the stick that goes “oooah” when you turn it one way and “aaoooh” when you turn it the other way work??
In: Other
The tube is hollow, and inside there is a sort of gasket the fits neatly in the width of the tube. The center of that gasket has a kind of valve that flexes when air moves through it to produce a sound. When you flip the stick over, the weight of the internal mechanism pulls it down, forcing the air in the tube through the valve, producing a noise. When you flip it over again, the air is now flowing through the valve in the opposite direction, producing a different kind of noise.
It’s similar to whistling from a low tune to high tune or vice versa. Your ‘tube length’ (mouth) goes larger and smaller to make the tone different.
Did anyone else read the title twice, trying to understand the phrasing, only to read it a second time but making the noise in your head instead of reading the words?
The size of the cavity that produces the sound changes, if I am thinking of the same device as you’re trying to describe. It’s effectively the same as using bottles or glasses of water filled to different levels as an instrument, except a sliding rod is used instead of liquid.
When you turn the stick one way, a piece inside the cavity moves and the cavity expands while causing air around the valve to reverberate, producing sound. When you turn the stick the other way, the cavity shrinks and the sound changes in “reverse”.
Spencer Jones did a whole comedy sketch on Groan Tubes. The bit starts at 5:35 if you wanna see it. He’s a proper odd fella.
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