Calculating Velocity of Wave in Wood Stick and Resonance Tube

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fleet
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Velocity Wave
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the velocity of a transverse wave in a wooden stick used in a musical instrument, which is paired with a half-open resonance tube. Given the velocity of sound at 343 m/s, the relationship between the lengths of the stick and the tube is established, with the tube being four times longer than the stick. The equations for standing waves in both the stick and the tube are utilized, leading to a derived expression for wave velocity as (2n-1)*343/8 m, where n represents the air tone number.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of standing wave equations for strings and tubes
  • Knowledge of wave velocity calculations
  • Familiarity with the concept of harmonics in musical instruments
  • Basic principles of sound propagation in different media
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the relationship between frequency and wavelength in wave mechanics
  • Learn about the harmonic series in musical acoustics
  • Explore the properties of standing waves in strings and tubes
  • Investigate the effects of different materials on wave velocity
USEFUL FOR

Students studying physics, particularly those interested in acoustics and wave mechanics, as well as musicians and instrument makers seeking to understand sound production in wooden instruments.

Fleet
Messages
7
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


A certain music instrument consists of a stick of wood placed horizontally and a resonance "tube" (see attached picture, which is from the original assignment-paper) placed vertically under the stick of wood. When the wood-stick is hit, is creates a standing wave, which is amplified in the resonance "tube". The resonance "tube" is half-open (closed in botton, open in top). The music instrument is seen below:
attachment.php?attachmentid=21869&stc=1&d=1258425457.jpg


I have to calculate the velocity of the transverse wave v_stick in the wood stick.
Information I am given:
Velocity of sound: v_sound=343 m/s

The resonance tube is four times as long as the stick of wood (the distance between the triangles on the picture)

Homework Equations


For a string with a standing wave we have that:
L=n*\frac{\lambda}{2}

For a half-open resonance "tube" we have that:
L=(2n-1)\frac{\lambda}{4}

L is the length of the string (wood stick) or the air "pillar" in which the standing wave exists, n is the number of the partial-tone and lambda is the wave length.

The Attempt at a Solution



4L_{stick}=L_{tube}

I'm unsure of what i know of the wave in the resonance tube, but if I can say that the standing wave in the wood stick has n=1 and the one in the resonance tube has n=8 (see the attached picture), I get:

4\frac{lambda_{stick}}{2}=\frac{15\lambda_{tube}}{4} \Leftrightarrow 2\lambda_{stick}=\frac{15}{4}\lambda_{tube}

I know I can insert the wave eqaution v=lambda*frequency, but what I have just seems so wrong and I have thought very long time about it. I hope you are willing to help me. I'm so stuck.

Best regards.
 

Attachments

  • instrument.jpg
    instrument.jpg
    3.9 KB · Views: 463
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Wow, the two n's make it complicated - many different solutions depending on their values, I think.

I would have begun with the fact that the
frequency on wood = frequency in tube
and put in the conversion to wavelength on each side and then convert the wavelength to L's using those two formulas. I get an expression for the velocity that is (2n-1)*343/8m where n is the air tone number and m the wood tone number. This may be the same as you have. I don't know how you will choose m and n.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
1K
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
Replies
3
Views
4K
Replies
4
Views
3K
Replies
1
Views
1K
Replies
1
Views
2K