If you’d like to play an instrument that’s bigger than you are, try the harp. Its tall wooden frame has strings stretched from the bottom to the top, and you pluck them to play different notes. Well, William Close played one that was 700 feet tall! He built his world-record “Earth Harp” by stretching the strings up the side of a skyscraper. The harp was so huge that he just sat between two of the strings to play it!
Wee ones: If you play the 1st string on a harp, then the 3rd, then the 5th…which string do you pluck next?
Little kids: If William played every 4th string starting with the 4th, what number was the 2nd string he played? Bonus: Would he have plucked the 13th string at all?
Big kids: If the skyscraper had 58 stories and each story was 10 feet tall, would that be tall enough for the 700-foot harp? Bonus: If normal harps are 5 feet tall and you stacked 20 of them, would they stand as tall as this 700-foot one?
The sky’s the limit: If the harp had 29 strings each 700 feet long, how many feet of wire did it use? (Hint if needed: What if it had had exactly 30 strings, and how far off is that answer?)
Answers:
Wee ones: The 7th string.
Little kids: The 8th string. Bonus: No, because 13 is odd – it can’t be a multiple of 4.
Big kids: No, because that would be only 580 feet tall. Bonus: Not even close: they would stack to only 100 feet.
The sky’s the limit: 20,300 feet. 30 strings would bring it to 21,000 feet, then we subtract one 700-foot wire from that.
And thank you Sophie and Ian for this awesome topic and picture!
