What You Need
- A paper/Styrofoam cup
- A small magnet
- A 3.5 mm headphone jack. You can cut this off an old pair of headphones.
- Some copper wire.
- A C/D battery or a small cylinder with a radius 1-2 cm less than the radius of your cup
- Some alligator clips
- Ice cream sticks
- Something to plug the speaker into, like an old radio or an iPod.
7 Steps to Make Speakers
- Make the copper wire in a neat circle with the ends hanging off 3-4 cm. You can do this by wrapping it around a battery, and then arranging the ends.
- Tape the wire down to the cup.
- Put your alligator clips on the two ends of the wire.
- On the final ends of the wire, put the jack.
- Tape the ice cream sticks to the cup so that they form a frame for the magnet.
- Put the magnet on top of this frame, so that it is right above the copper wire coil.
- Plug it in to your radio!
How It Works
The electricity going through the jack travels in small pulses. These pulses determine how powerful each vibration will be. When these pulses are sent below a magnet, the electromagnetic field causes the copper wire coil to become a small electro magnet.
The wire vibrates, and the cup vibrates too. Using a cup of a light material ensures that it can vibrate easily. Most speakers use fabric, which is also a light material.
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