Standing waves on a string experiment -- Relative amplitude of harmonics

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Higher order harmonics on a string exhibit lower amplitudes compared to the fundamental frequency due to energy dissipation and geometric factors. As tension increases, the amplitude of standing waves decreases, with lower tension allowing for larger amplitudes across all modes. The relationship between frequency and energy indicates that higher frequencies dissipate energy more quickly, leading to reduced amplitudes for higher harmonics when the same excitation energy is applied. The fundamental theorem of Fourier series explains that as frequency increases, the coefficients for higher harmonics approach zero, resulting in lower amplitudes. Overall, the amplitude of standing waves is influenced by the tension of the string and the geometry of the waveforms.
  • #31
Yet, your explanation has "some chance" only if the string has reached the limit of its linear elasticity, which is unlikely to be the case in general. I agree that the OP has provided insufficiently many details though (post #7 again).
 
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  • #32
coquelicot said:
Yet, your explanation...
For the n-th time: This wasn't my entire explanation, just one of the factors I mentioned that can play a role, since we are talking generally without specific data.
 
  • #33
OK. Thank you for this discussion, and especially for #22 where I've learned something.
 

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