1. Comparative Ability of Exterior Imported Hardwood Plywood, Gypsum Board, and Expanded Polystyrene to insulate a Wooden Box Against Sound Sheridan Drodge Undergraduate Tennessee Technological University

2. Project Summary Problem: How do the soundproofing abilities of exterior imported hardwood plywood, gypsum board, and expanded polystyrene compare? My objective is to perform an experiment that will effectively test and compare the ability of exterior imported hardwood plywood, gypsum board, and expanded polystyrene to insulate a plywood box against sound.

3. Experiment Box Structure Door Sound Source Sound measurement outside box (zeroing) Sound Measurement of box alone Attaching Materials/Unattaching Materials Sound Measurement with Materials Comparison

4. Introduction or Background Problem: How do the soundproofing abilities of exterior imported hardwood plywood, gypsum board, and expanded polystyrene compare?

5. Literature Sources … Polymeric Systems for Absorbing Airborne Sound …Second Order Sound Phenomena … Sound Waves Sound Absortion … Multi-layered Constructions … Powdered Layers and Porous Sheets …Acoustic & EM Wave Absorber … Resistive Films and Glass Wool Studies of Polymeric Systems … Damping Vibrations Sonic Range Sound Transmission Properties

6. Objective/Hypothesis Statement Hypothesis: There is a difference in the ability of exterior imported hardwood plywood, gypsum board, and expanded polystyrene to insulate to insulate a plywood box against sound. Objective: My objective is to test the ability of exterior imported hardwood plywood, gypsum board, and expanded polystyrene to insulate a plywood box against sound.

7. Methods and Materials Data Form

8. Statistics

9. Project Timeline Week 1: September 1Research topic/title Week 2: September 8Library literature search Week 3: September 15Scientific method, objective Hypothesis Week 4: September 22Research proposal/key word Week 5: September 19Web page Week 6: October 6Data form/format mid. Outline Week 7: October 13Abst./intro./conc./table/fig. Week 8: October 20Fall break

10. Project Timeline Week 9: October 27Mid-term Week 10: November 3Platform/Robert’s Week 11: November 10Resume/ethics Week 12: November 17Poster/manu. Evalu. Week 13: November 24Proposal Week 14: December 1RFP/RFA Week 15: December 8plat./manu./portfolio Week 16: December 15Final

11. Budget Biology 3920

12. Expected Results and Benefits Result: A comparison between the soundproofing ability between the two materials An educated prediction about how the soundproofing abilities of the three materials compare to each other in a variety of situations