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Why is it that the fundamental harmonic is louder than rest? If energy is the same as frequency surely the greater the harmonic the louder it is.
Also what does amplitude represent in waves?
Also what does amplitude represent in waves?
It's not.If energy is the same as frequency
The maximum distance between peaks and troughs, measured parallel to the direction of oscillation.Also what does amplitude represent in waves?
Your question prompted me to do some reading and it turns out that it's not always the case e.g. for some musical instruments such as the trumpet the higher harmonics have a larger amplitude.Why is it that the fundamental harmonic is louder than rest?
It's not always. However, the overtones of any standing wave are usually the highest amplitude. The way the oscillations are matched to the air can bring out higher order overtones out more. I use the term Overtone because the higher orders may be far from harmonics. Brass instruments can be waaay out without the player pulling notes. But it's what we find pleasing.I think that the fundamental is called that because it's the one you hear.
What he was referring to was Quantum Mechanics. In particular, the formulaI was told by my physics lecturer energy is the same as frequency, if this is not the case what is energy represented by in a wave?
As sophiecentaur points out, the energy of a photon is proportional to the frequency of the light. The number of such photons determines the total energy at that frequency.I was told by my physics lecturer energy is the same as frequency, if this is not the case what is energy represented by in a wave?
what kind of system are you referring to?Why is it that the fundamental harmonic is louder than rest? If energy is the same as frequency surely the greater the harmonic the louder it is.
Also what does amplitude represent in waves?
You need context. While energy can be related to energy, it is NOT the ONLY factor when considering the energy of a classical wave. The amplitude of the wave also affects the energy. So your physics lecturer is correct. However, you understood it as it being the only factor affecting energy.I was told by my physics lecturer energy is the same as frequency, if this is not the case what is energy represented by in a wave?
Actually, what is conserved is "power", the amount of energy going through a point in a unit time. It is why, for a light source with a fixed power, increasing the frequency will cause the intensity to drop, because there can only be a fixed amount of energy given off per second.He used it to explain how wavelength and wave speed change yet the frequency stays the same when light enters a medium. He stated frequency is energy and energy is conserved.