Waves and ripples in water, air, and æther : $b Being a course of Christmas lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great BritainFleming, J. A. (John Ambrose), Sir
Science
Waves and ripples in water, air, and æther : $b Being a course of Christmas lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain
Fleming, J. A. (John Ambrose), Sir
Electric waves; Sound; Waves
(2) The presence of harmonics up to the sixth communicates force and
brilliancy and character to the tone. Of this kind are the notes of the
piano and organ-pipes more strongly blown.
(3) If only the uneven harmonics, viz. the first, third, fifth, etc.,
are present, the sound acquires a certain nasal character.
(4) If the higher harmonics are strong, then the sound acquires great
penetrating force, as in the case of brass instruments, trumpet,
trombone, clarionet, etc.
(5) The causes of discord are beats having a frequency of 30 to 40 or
so, taking place between the two primary tones or the harmonics of
either note.
The pleasure derived from the sound of a musical instrument is
dependent, to a large extent, on the existence of the desirable
harmonics in each tone, or on the exclusion of undesirable ones.
In the next place, let us consider a little the means at our disposal
for creating and enforcing the class of air-waves which give rise to
the sensations of musical tones. Broadly speaking, there are three
chief forms of musical air-wave-making appliance, viz. those which
depend on the vibrations of columns of air, on strings, and on plates
respectively.
One of the oldest and simplest forms of musical instrument is
that represented by the _pan-pipes_, still used as an orchestral
accompaniment in the case of the ever-popular peripatetic theatrical
display called _Punch and Judy_.
If we take a metal or wooden pipe closed at the bottom, and blow gently
across the open end, we obtain a musical note. The air in the pipe is
set in vibration, and the tone we obtain depends on the length of the
column of air, which is the same as the length of the pipe. The manner
in which this air-vibration is started is as follows: On blowing across
the open end of the pipe closed at the bottom a partial vacuum is
made in it. That this is so, can be seen in any scent spray-producer,
in which two glass tubes are fixed at right angles to each other.
One tube dips into the scent, and through the other a puff of air is
sent across the open mouth of the first. The liquid is sucked up the
vertical tube by reason of the partial vacuum made above it. If we
employ a pipe closed at the bottom and blow across the open end, the
first effect of the exhaustion is that the jet of air is partly sucked
down into the closed tube, and thus compresses the air in it. This air
then rebounds, and again a partial vacuum is made in the tube. So the
result is an alternate compression and expansion of the air in the
closed tube. The column of air is alternately stretched and squeezed,
and a state of stationary vibration is set up in the air in the tube;
just as in the case of a rope fixed at one end and jerked up and down
at the other end. The natural time-period of vibration of the column of
air in the tube controls the behaviour of the jet of air blown across
its mouth, the energy of the jet of air being drawn upon to keep the
column of air in the tube in a state of oscillation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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