A park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, has a huge boulder field of musical rocks. Visitors to the park bring hammers, sticks, railroad spikes, and other odd things, to “play” the musical rocks. When tapped with a hammer, another rock, or other things, about one-third of the rocks in the field make a high-pitched melody that seems impossible to be ringing from a rock.
At first, scientists thought it was strange that they never saw any wild animals in the boulder field. Then, they realized that all the visitors tapping the rocks probably kept the animals in the forest!
Scientists do not know why some of the rocks in the field can make this bell-like noise or why the other rocks cannot. A scientist named Nick Reiter did experiments in the boulder field. He found that there is no “difference in color, grain size, or texture” he can see between the rocks that ring and the rocks that do not ring. All of the rocks in the field are made from hard minerals and iron, which is also what makes up Earth’s crust. …show more content…
Musical rocks are also found in Montana, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The puzzling thing is that the ringing rocks in each place are made of different materials. Scientists have not been able to discover what they have in common that makes them ring.
Musicians do not care why the rocks can make these sounds. They just enjoy visiting the boulder field. In 1890, Dr. J. J. Ott played music on the rocks while members from a brass band played their instruments in a performance. People joke that this was the very first rock concert. Today musicians also visit the park to make music on the
At first, scientists thought it was strange that they never saw any wild animals in the boulder field. Then, they realized that all the visitors tapping the rocks probably kept the animals in the forest!
Scientists do not know why some of the rocks in the field can make this bell-like noise or why the other rocks cannot. A scientist named Nick Reiter did experiments in the boulder field. He found that there is no “difference in color, grain size, or texture” he can see between the rocks that ring and the rocks that do not ring. All of the rocks in the field are made from hard minerals and iron, which is also what makes up Earth’s crust. …show more content…
Musical rocks are also found in Montana, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The puzzling thing is that the ringing rocks in each place are made of different materials. Scientists have not been able to discover what they have in common that makes them ring.
Musicians do not care why the rocks can make these sounds. They just enjoy visiting the boulder field. In 1890, Dr. J. J. Ott played music on the rocks while members from a brass band played their instruments in a performance. People joke that this was the very first rock concert. Today musicians also visit the park to make music on the