Crickets and Temperature
Have you ever walked outside in a quiet evening to hear a tiny chorus of crickets' chirping? You are most likely hearing the common field cricket. Male crickets have organs that produce sound on their front wings. Male crickets rub their wings together to produce that chirp you hear at night. But they are not just chirping to make the quiet night go by. Male crickets are trying to attract females.
Scientists have noticed a very unusual relationship between crickets' chirpings and temperature. On very cold days, there are large intervals between cricket chirps. That means the space between each cricket chirp is long, and so the chirps are not very frequent. Why do you think it is like this on colder days? On warmer days, the interval between each cricket chirp is smaller and so the chirps are heard frequently.
Scientists are able to relate the chirping of crickets and temperature of their environment mathematically. The amount of cricket chirps heard (in fifteen seconds) plus 48 is the approximate temperature of the cricket's environment in degrees Fahrenheit!
That means you can go outside in the evening and get an approximate estimate of the temperature without using a thermometer or flipping to the Weather Channel! Just listen to the crickets.
Materials:Activity: Estimate the temperature by listening to cricket chirps!
Stopwatch
Scratch piece of paper
Thermometer (if you'd like to check your estimate)
Procedure:
- Find an area outside during the evening (as crickets usually chirp at night) where you can easily hear cricket chirps. Your backyard might be a great place…this is also a good activity when you go camping.
- Record the amount of cricket chirps you hear in 15 seconds by using your stopwatch. Add this number to 48.
- This is the temperature in Fahrenheit. Check your estimate with the thermometer. How close are you? (Or actually, how close is the cricket?)
C + 48 = temperature in F
You could use this equation to calculate a good evening to wear shorts or the right time to wear a jacket.
Exploration Beyond: If you didn't get the same temperature as your thermometer when you were doing this experiment, what factors could be involved? Is it possible that the location where the cricket is chirping is warmer or cooler than where you are standing?