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Waves, Sound and Light: Sound and Music

Sound and Music: Audio Guided Solution

Problem 14:

In a demonstration, Mr. H stretches a steel wire to a length 1.23 meters and braces both ends so that they are not free to vibrate. He attaches a fancy piece of equipment which he calls a mechanical oscillator to the wire and explains how it works. Then Mr. H turns the oscillator on and tunes the frequency to 588 Hz. To the amazement of the class, the wire begins vibrating in the sixth harmonic wave pattern.
a. Determine the speed of waves within the wire.
b. Determine the frequency at which the wire will vibrate with the first harmonic wave pattern.
c. Determine the frequency at which the wire will vibrate with the second harmonic wave pattern.

Audio Guided Solution


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a. 241 m/s
b. 98 Hz
c. 196 Hz

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