LO4 Sound Waves

1. Sound Waves
Of Various Instruments
Yu Qing (Joy) Zhou,
20669140

2. Why is it that the same
note sounds different
depending on the
instrument it is produced
from?

3. • Sound is generated by vibration, rapid expansion
or compression, or changes in air flow.
• Depending on aspects such asamplitude,
intensity, and frequency, we can hear different
sounds s f
• These variations are caused by the difference in
the medium the sound waves travel through (ex.
Wood, air, water, etc)
http://physics.info/sound/

4. Different forms of sound wave
images we are familiar with...
http://amath.colorado.edu/pub/matlab/music/
http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2008/07/ http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2008/07/

5. Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2krCh
QmJow

6. • Since instruments are produced from different ma
terials, the medium that the sound waves travel th
rough are therefore different
• Depending on the size and shape of the instrume
nt, the amplitude and frequency of the sound wav
es will be different
• The variations will cause difference in resonance
http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/3849/how-do-harmonics
-work

7. • Overtones:
frequencies that exist while playing a note that is diffe
rent from the dominant frequency of the note
• The music that we hear that are produced all instrume
nts is consist of overtones.
• When the number of overtones is a multiple of the ba
se (or fundamental) frequency, it's called a harmonic.
http://www.quora.com/Why-do-musical-notes-sound-differe
nt-on-different-instruments

8. • In an ideal situation, the ha
rmonics will infinitely increa
se
• The higher the frequency, t
he quieter the sound is.
• Even if the sound created
by the harmonic is beyond
the scope of human ears, it
will still impact the way we
interpret the sound
http://www.quora.com/Why-do-musical-notes-sound-differe
nt-on-different-instruments