Underwater Inventor

In 1995, when Richie Stachowski was 10, his family went snorkeling. Underwater, Richie yelled for his dad to look at some amazing fish, but his dad didn't hear. So Richie decided to invent a device that could make voices louder underwater.

First, Richie researched sound. He learned that sound moves in waves through air, water, and other materials. People hear when the waves reach their ears. The more waves, the louder the sound.

When Richie called out underwater, many sound waves escaped into the air, whizzed past his dad, or were carried away by stirred-up water. Richie decided he needed a way to aim the sound so more waves could reach a person's ears. He also figured the device must keep water away from his mouth so he could form words clearly.

Richie hopped into his town pool and shouted through the small end of a plastic juice bottle. "It didn't work that well," says Richie. So Richie and his mom took his idea to a toy maker. He and Richie tested many shapes and sizes of cans, bottles, and jugs. They discovered that a trumpet shape aims sound best, and a large mouthpiece makes it easier to form words.

The finished toy is called WaterTalkies.

Source: Scholastic SuperScience