# Tag Info

## New answers tagged harmonics

0

Somehow you have to impose rigidity on a flexible object. I think this could be done by turning the string into a long thin magnet. The ends would then repel each other. You could put the string in orbit and then perturb it to look at the waves. I think it is intuitively obvious that standing waves would be possible. I don't have the maths to prove it.

1

A "standing wave" is not a real wave - it is simply our observing the superposition of two waves - one traveling to the left and one traveling to the right. If they have the same amplitude and propagate at the same velocity there will be stationary points on the string. This is true regardless of whether the ends of the string are "open" or "closed". ...

1

Yes, it most certainly can. It's much easier to visualize if you consider a length of flexible steel or plastic. You can shake it a bit, then toss it in the air so it's not constrained, and it will (if properly initiated) vibrate at a resonant wavelength. I think the confusion most people will get from your question is that everyday string is "floppy," ...

3

Pitch, in music, is equivalent to frequency. How often the wavefore cycles. This is usually defined by length, i.e. how long the string is, how long the pipe is, etc. It can also be affected by the tension (how tight the string is.) Timbre, the sound of a specific instrument, is defined by the "shape" of the wavefore, whether spikes, round, square, or ...

10

When you pluck a string or hit a drum or sound a not on a flute, the instrument and the air in and around it vibrate and this vibration propagates as sound waves in the air to your hear drum. When you hear an instrument being played, what you recognise as the note is the base frequency. 'C' corresponds to $261.6$ Hz and is the same for a piano or a guitar. ...

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