The length of a tube in wind instruments directly affects the wavelength of sound waves produced. Longer tubes allow for more compressions and rarefactions, but only specific wavelengths that correspond to the tube's length are reinforced to persist as standing waves. Other wavelengths diminish quickly. The speed of sound remains constant, determined by the gas in the tube, not the tube's length.
PREREQUISITESMusicians, acoustics engineers, physics students, and anyone interested in the principles of sound wave behavior in wind instruments.
If one tube has length L, and another tube has length L+l,where l is the wavelength, then L+l has one more wave in the tube, but the speed of propagation (speed of sound) is a property of the gas in the tube, not the length of the tube.physicsnnewbie said:In a wind instrument for example. Wouldn't a longer tube simply allow more compressions/rarefactions to be moving through the tube at anyone time?