Bell facts for kids

A bell is a simple musical instrument. Most bells are made of metal. Bells are also in churches to announce the time between hours. Ships usually carry a ship's bell. Alarm bells warn of danger. Some bells are in bell towers.

Images for kids

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  13th c. BC bell, Shang dynasty

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  Chinese bronze bell, 18th-16th century BC

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  Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, dated 433 BC.

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  Mechanism of a bell hung for English full-circle ringing. The bell can swing through a full circle in alternate directions.

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  English full-circle bells shown in the "down" position, in which they are normally left between ringing sessions.

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  English full-circle bells shown in the "up" position.

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  Wind-powered bell under temple eaves,. Banna-ji. Ashikaga, Tochigi.

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  The principal harmonics of the Erfurt bell (1497) typical of a harmonically-tuned bell: strike note is E, with hum note an octave below, minor third, fifth, nominal above, and major third and perfect fifth in the second octave.

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  Big Ben in the Elizabeth Tower of the British parliament.

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  Petersglocke, Cologne Cathedral with person for scale

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  A Warring States-era zheng (钲) bell from Baoshan 2 Tomb in Jingmen, Hubei

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  This copper bell was made by pre-Columbian North American natives.

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  The Glasgow 'Dead or Deid bell' of 1642

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  Japanese temple bell of the Ryōanji Temple, Kyoto

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  "Bell house at Shimoda" in Japan

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  Buddhist bell, Rewalsar, India

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  Jain bell inside temple, Chittorgarh Fort

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  Temple bell and clapper. Banna-ji. Japan.

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  Mingun Bell weighs 55,555 viss, or 90 tonnes.

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  Philadelphia's Liberty Bell.

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  The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell (from 1520) in Kraków, Poland.

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  The World Peace Bell in Kentucky.

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  Bronze jingyun bell cast in the year 711 AD, Xi'an.

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  Chinese bells from the ancient Warring States, Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan, China.

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  St. Ulrich, Memmingen

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  Yongle Bell

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  A bell in Chang Chun Temple, Wuhan, hanging on its pulao

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  St Cuileain's Bell from Ireland, 7th-8th Century AD (British Museum)

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  Bronze bell from the second half of the fourteenth century, depicting Saints Peter, Paul, John the Evangelist, and Thomas.

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  Fire Bell, Glendale, Arizona.

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  The bell as depicted in fine art: This triptych depicts Benkei carrying the giant bell of Mii-dera Buddhist temple up Hei-zan Mountain. – Chikanobu Toyohara, c. 1890.

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  This bell is called Mii-dera no Bansho (三井寺の晩鐘), the evening bell at Mii-dera, a Buddhist temple in Otsu, which is near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This image shows the hanging wooden beam positioned to strike the outer side of the resonating surface.