Name: Alika Date: 30 August 2019

Section: 9B

Quiet Construction

I. Problem/Research Questions
What material would be able to lower the sound of a banging hammer the most when
hitting different surfaces?

II. Background Information

Noise pollution from construction projects happening around your house or office
can be quite a disturbance. Not only that, but at most times you can’t pause a company’s
project just because the noise annoys you, and sometimes there’s nothing that can be
done to make those tools more quiet, or is there? By adding a layer of material like cloth
or leather, the sound coming out of the average hammer could be dramatically
dampened. Reducing the loud, ear shattering BANG of each swing being taken against
nails or wood.
III. Variables

Independent variables Dependent variables Constants

● Material of the sheet ● Loudness of each ● Speed of hammer

wrapping the
hammer. Each
material, (leather,
cloth, cardboard) will
be wrapped around
the hammer.
● Material of the surface
being hit, (marble,
wood, plaster wall)
*describe the constants and variables and not just indicate the materials.
hit (in decibels). A hitting the surface.
mic will be placed a Due to the chances
certain distance of human error
away from the point making the hammer
where the hammer hits inconsistent, i
will hit. I will analyze will be building a
the recordings and contraption to make
find how loud they sure every hit of the
are in decibels. hammer is the same.
● Material of Hammer,
i will be using a steel
hammer.
● Distance the Mic will
be placed. I will place
the mic 50cm from
where the hammer
will hit.
IV. Hypothesis
If the material wrapped around the hammer is tougher than the noise will be reduced
because the tougher the material is the more it can hold up against the hard pounding of
the hammer.

Designing
V. Materials
● Hammer (preferable steel)
● Piece of leather (min. 5x5 cm)
● Piece of cloth (min. 5x5 cm)
● Piece of cardboard (min. 5x5 cm)
● Marble surface (floor or spare tile, any piece of marble would be fine)
● Wooden Surface (can use a chair or bench if can’t find a floor, an ordinary piece of
wood would do fine)
● Plaster Wall (a solid plaster wall)
● Duct Tape (1 roll)
● Basic stationary (Scissors, pens and markers, etc.)
● String (1 m)

VI. Procedure
1. Tie string to the neck of the hammer. Leave 20cm access.
2. Place mic 30cm from where the hammer will land.
3. Let hammer drop by letting go of the string onto the surface (control)
4. Wrap cloth around the head of the hammer, stick with duct tape.
5. Prepare surface material
6. Start recording.
7. Let go of string, let hammer hit the surface material.
8. Repeat steps 3-6 with different materials
9. Collect data, run through a decibel counter.

Processing
VII. Collecting, Processing, and Interpreting Data
Table showing volume of a plain hammer hitting different surfaces in decibels.
Hammer (nothing) Marble Surface Wooden Surface Plaster Wall

Trial 1 102.181 db 102.933 db 101.969 db

T2 102.147 db 103.273 db 102.093 db

T3 102. 362 db 103.122 db 102.114 db
Average 102.230 db 103.109 db 102.059 db

Table showing volume of hammer wrapped in leather hitting different surfaces.

Hammer (leather) Marble Surface Wooden Surface Plaster Wall
T1 101.868 db 102.086 db 102.606 db
T2 101.777 db 102.043 db 102.587 db
T3 101.977 db 102.107 db 102.151 db
Average 101.874 db 102.079 db 102.448 db

Table showing volume of hammer wrapped in cloth hitting different surfaces.

Hammer (cloth) Marble Surface Wooden Surface Plaster Wall

T1 101.979 db 102.252 db 102.055 db

T2 102.238 db 102.395 db 101.938 db

T3 102.979 db 102.470 db 101.910 db

Average 102.399 db 102.372 db 101.968 db

Table showing volume of hammer wrapped in cardboard hitting different surfaces.

Hammer Marble Surface Wooden Surface Plaster Wall

(cardboard)

T1 102.232 db 101.198 db 102.107 db

T2 102.103 db 99.536 db 102.059 db

T3 102.151 db 101.237 db 100.929 db

Average 102.162 db 100.657 db 101.698 db

The three tables shown above provide data taken from each of the surface and material

used in the experiment. The different surface as well as material can very much affect the

loudness of the noise projected by the hammer when hammering the specific surface. The

purpose of these data tables are for the researcher’s to find a trend between the three tables

which will then be used to prove the hypothesis.

 The first table shows data of the different loudness of each hit shown in desibels, when

the hammer hits different surfaces without any materials. The second table shows the hammer

hitting different surfaces with the leather as a material. The third table uses cloth when hitting

the different surfaces. While the forth table uses cardboard. From all these materials, the

average of each data is shown to make it easier for the researcher’s to find the trend between

each given material and surfaces.

PICTURE SHOWING HAMMER PICTURE SHOWING MIC SOUND PRESSURE

HITTING MARBLE SURFACE HAMMER HITTING COUNTER
WODDEN SURFACE WITH
CARDBOARD MATERIAL
 Cloth Leather Cardboard Nothing
Surface: Marble
102.55

102.38
A
102.2

102.03

101.85

101.68

101.5
Average
GRAPH SHOWING THE LOUDNESS OF THE HAMMER ON MARBLE SURFACE
The data shown above clearly displays the loudness of the hammer on a
marble surface. The different colors represent the different materials that were
used to test how much it affects the loudness of the sound produced by the
hammer when supported by each material. In this graph, the material with the
loudest average noise produced by the hammer is the cloth. It is clearly shown
that the bar graph of the cloth holds the loudest average noise. Contrary to that,
the material that made the least noise on a marble surface is leather. So to solve
the given problem, leather would be the most effective material to use when
hammering on top of a marble surface as it most minimizes the noise compared
to the other materials tested.

A GRAPH SHOWING THE LOUDNESS OF THE HAMMER ON WOOD

Above is a graph clearly showing the different loudness produced by
hammering the surface of wood using different materials; cloth, leather,
cardboard, and even just the surface of wood with no material. The hammer
produced the loudest noise when it hit the surface with no material supporting it.
102.75 Cloth
Cloth Leather
Leather Cardboard
Cardboard Nothing
Nothing
Surface: Plaster
Surface: WoodWall
104
102.5

103
102.25 This

102
shows
102
that not
101.75
having
101
101.5 any
100 material
101.25
Average

99
Average
covering the hammer when hammering wood might not be the best choice when
trying to minimize the noise of hammering. The material that works best when
hammering a wood surface is cardboard. This is proven by the graph above
presenting the least average loudness for cardboard compared to the other
materials. To conclude, the best way to minimizes noise when hammering a wood
surface is to use cardboard, especially compared to not having any material at all.

A GRAPH SHOWING THE LOUDNESS OF THE HAMMER ON PLASTER WALL

Lastly, the final surface tested on was a plaster wall. The bar graph above
displays different materials and each of it’s affect on the loud noise a hammer
makes when it hits its surface, in this case it’s plaster wall. Surprisingly, leather
was the best material when it comes to minimizing the noise of hammering with
plaster wall as a surface. It has a significant difference compared to the other
materials and it’s clear that it makes the loudest noise. However, the material
that would help lessen the noise the most when hammering on a plaster wall is
cardboard as shown in the graph above.
Interpretation of graphs:
Although data tables are useful and efficient to lie out all the collected data
from the experiment, graphs and charts can clearly display trends and patterns
shown in the experiment. The three bar graphs above shows three different
surfaces and different materials tested to see how much it affects the noise of
hammering. It shows that each material affects the noise differently depending on
the surface. Some material may produce louder hammering noise on one surface
and it might completely lessen the noise on another surface.
From the bar graphs above, one may conclude that different materials work
differently on different surfaces. There aren’t any specific trends shown from the
three different graphs. However, it does show which material is the most affective
to reduce the loudness for each specific surface.

EVALUATING

VIII. Conclusion (C.iii and C.iv)

From all the data collected from the experiment, one may conclude that
although the result had no trends it still showed which material would be best to
use on certain surfaces. This experiment proves that it is possible to reduce loud
noises produced by hammering and or other construction noises, which can be
very disturbing and distracting. The decrease of these noises can greatly influence
those living around construction sites, as the loud commotion isn’t very pleasing
to hear.
In the experiment, it is clearly visible that each material has a different
affect depending on the tested surface. The first bar graph uses marble as a
surface. In this graph, there’s a clear difference between cloth and leather. Cloth
being the material that produces the loudest noise makes it ineffective when
you’re trying to reduce the sound a hammer makes as it hits a marble surface.
This graph shows that the best way to reduce noise while hammering on a marble
surface is leather.
Moving forth, the second graph shows how different materials result in
different loudness when a hammer is hit against a wood surface. It shows that
cardboard is the best material to use when it comes to hammering on a wood
surface as it creates the least commotion. However, not having any material at all
doesn’t help with creating minimal noise when hammering a wood surface as it
shows that it creates the loudest noise measured by the sound pressure counter.
Lastly, cardboard is the best material to use when it comes to hammering a
plaster wall. It has a clear difference compared to the other materials and it
creates the least noise. However, using leather or not using any material at all
when hammering a plaster wall might not be the best choice as it creates a loud
banging noise which defeats the purpose of reducing the loudness of the
hammer.
The hypothesis states that if the material wrapped around the hammer is
tougher, then the noise will be reduced because the tougher the material is the
more it can hold up against the hard pounding of the hammer. There isn’t a clear
answer depicting if the hypothesis is proven correctly in this experiment since
every material works differently on different surfaces. However, the toughest
material used was cardboard, and based on the bar graph shown previously,
cardboard is shown to be the most effective material to use most of the time. This
was proven when hammering on plaster wall and a wooden surface. Although it
didn’t prove to produce the least noise on a marble surface, it was still the second
most affective material to use after leather. Now, looking at the thinnest material,
which would be using no material at all (nothing) it shows that its average would
mostly produce one of the loudest noise compared to the others, if not the
loudest.

This experiment proves that not every data collected from an experiment
needs to have a trend and or a pattern. This is because there are many factors
that can affect the performance of each material and surface. It really goes to
show that hypothesis and predictions can go wrong in experiments and that’s the
whole point of it.

IX. Recommendations (C.v)

After conducting the experiment, there are a few aspects that should be
kept in mind. Every experiment will have more accurate results when more than
one trial is conducted. In this experiment the researcher did three trials for each
material and this will result in a more precise data.
Sound is very sensitive and when recording the sound pressure, it is
important to have exact measurements that are constant for each trial and each
material. This meaning that the mic used to record the sound pressure should
always be placed within the same distance from the hammer for every trial. Aside
from the mic, it is also important to measure how far the hammer drops and to
keep it constant every time. This is because when the hammer drops from a
higher point in any of the trials, it would create significant changes in the loudness
of the hammer hitting the certain surface.
To conclude, it’s really important to have three or more trials in this
experiment to show a trend or to give the best and most accurate results. Not
only that, but in each trial it is really important to keep the constant variables
constant. This means to have a constant speed when the hammer hits the
surface, constant distance of mic from the hammer, etc.