Plastic Coke Bottle Data

The cavity resonance frequencies of a 20 oz plastic coke bottle were recorded by blowing over the top of it and measuring the frequency using a microphone and a digital frequency counter.

The curve fit of the resonance data leads to the expression:

The practical range for this coke bottle is from about 180 to 500 Hz. This is about an octave plus a musical fifth near the middle of the piano, so most simple musical tunes can be produced with such bottles. From a musical score, you can find the associated frequencies from the equal tempered frequency list.

The calculated frequencies for a 20 oz plastic coke bottle can be used to tune coke bottles to produce simple melodies. The tune for "Mary Had a Little Lamb" has only four notes. The coke bottle that was used had a measured total volume of 646 cm³.The frequencies and volumes for those notes are as follows.