Traffic noise: results

Trace from experiment 1

This graph shows that there is a direct relationship between road traffic noise and time of day. The sound level is highest on Saturday 29th June.

This graph shows that there is a direct relationship between road traffic noise and time of day. The sound level is highest on Saturday 29th June.

Trace from experiment 2

This graph shows the sound level over a 2 minute period. The peaks on the graph are vehicles passing by.

Answers to questions

Experiment 1

1. (Dependent on your location) In Pico’s experiment it is noisier on Saturday due to the increased number of people going shopping
2. The noisiest times of the day are 9:00am and 5:00pm as people are travelling to and from work and school at these times. These times are known as the "rush hours"

Experiment 2

1. In Pico’s experiment approximately 9 vehicles passed by in the 2 minutes the DrDAQ was recording. This is measured by counting the number of peaks shown on the graph above 70 dB. Each peak representing a vehicle passing by

Teachers’ notes

Safety notice: children must be well supervised and briefed on road safety if experimenting near roads. These experiments should preferably be done by suspending the DrDAQ unit out of a building window that faces a road.

Credits, comments and further info

This experiment was written by Pico Technology.