Resonance

Resonance

Resonance is the physical phenomenon in which a system vibrates in response to an applied frequency, but the external force of this frequency interacts with the object in such a way that it causes the system to oscillate with a maximum amplitude due to the specific frequency induced. This property applies to many fields of physics when studying the way an object behaves in certain situations.

Natural Frequencies

When dealing with sound and its interaction with various objects in space, a resonant frequency of a wave is the natural frequency of vibration determined by the physical and chemical properties of said object.The existence of resonance in and of itself depends on the existence of natural frequencies. Objects often have multiple natural vibrating resonant frequencies, and it will pick out those frequencies from a series of excitations, making it an even more useful tool when identifying the properties of an object.

History

One of the most famous visible examples of resonance in history is the disaster at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. This bridge, in Tacoma, Washington, spanned the Tacoma Narrows Strait, but it collapsed into the waters of Puget Sound on November 7, 1940.

This is the bridge during its collapse in 1940.

This bridge had such a short lived existence due to resonance. Since its construction, workers observed vertical movement in the suspension bridge on windy days. This brought about the origin of the bridge's nickname: "Galloping Gertie". However, on a particularly windy day, the wind provided the bridge with a periodic vibrating frequency that matched the bridge's natural vibrational frequency, causing the bridge to become a massive oscillating standing wave. This intense oscillation proved too much for the structural integrity of the bridge, and it collapsed. No human lives were lost in the accident, but a black, male cocker spaniel named Tubby passed away from the incident.

Standing Waves

Studying resonance requires knowledge of what a standing wave is and how it behaves because resonance within objects have patterns of this nature. A standing wave is formed when two waves propagate through a medium and experiences both constructive and destructive interference with each other when reverberating off of a barrier.

This is a standing wave with labeled nodes and antinodes

This interference causes some areas of the medium to always appear still, while other areas of the medium are oscillating. These areas are called nodes and antinodes. A node is the term used to describe a place where the medium does not move due to the vibration. On the other hand, an antinode is the point where the maximum displacement of the medium occurs due to the vibration of the wave. An important characteristic of a standing wave is that when the wave reaches a fixed barrier at the end of the propagation medium, it changes phase and travels in the reverse direction instead of continuing forward. In that, a change in phase means a 180 degree transformation in the period of the wave. This can be more easily understood when viewed in the visuals provided below.

Harmonics

Wave patterns occur in specific manners based on the certain frequency applied. The frequencies of the wave and their relative patterns are called harmonics. Harmonics behave in a way that provides a convenient mathematical model based on the wavelength of the wave, the harmonic type, and the length of the medium it is propagating through.The first harmonic consists of a single antinode in the middle of the medium, and this antinode oscillates up and down continuously. Next, the second harmonic creates two antinodes and three nodes. A full wavelength can be observed here. The third harmonic consists of three antinodes and four nodes. From these progressive patterns, a mathematical relationship can be derived to calculate the length of medium based on the wavelength of the wave. This relationship can be seen below.

A Mathematical Model

First Harmonic - [math]\displaystyle{ L = \frac{1}{2} * \lambda }[/math]

Second Harmonic - [math]\displaystyle{ L = \frac{2}{2} * \lambda }[/math]

Third Harmonic - [math]\displaystyle{ L = \frac{3}{2} * \lambda }[/math]

Fourth Harmonic - [math]\displaystyle{ L = \frac{4}{2} * \lambda }[/math]

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nth Harmonic - [math]\displaystyle{ L = \frac{n}{2} * \lambda }[/math]

Open Cylinder

In an open air cylinder, waves can create all harmonics. The position of the nodes inside the tube are reversed compared to the propagation of the wave on a string. This means that for the first fundamental frequency, the node will be located at the center of the tube whereas in a string there would be two nodes, one at each end. This pattern continues for the rest of the harmonics. The Resonant frequency of the air column depends on the speed of sound in the air as well as the geometry of the air column.

Closed Cylinder

Different from open air tubes, a closed air column only produces resonant frequencies at the odd harmonics. Because the closed end of the tube is always a node of the wave, the open end will therefore be an antinode. This results in the fact that the wavelength of the wave is always four times the length of the tube. A good example of this concept is in the clarinet. This instrument is made of a closed cylinder, so its upper and lower registers sound much different than instruments of the woodwind family being made of open cylinders.

Applications

The concept of standing waves can be applied to many aspect of everyday life. Many of these applications fall in the world of music. Strings on instruments and the use of tuning forks are two very important applications of resonance and standing waves.

Strings

As discussed above, strings behave like standing waves when plucked or strummed on a stringed instrument like a guitar. When a guitar string is plucked though, it produces a unique sound without the player specifying. This pitch is the resonant frequency of that particular string. The pitch of the string is a result of its length, mass, and tension. Therefore, on a guitar, altering the tension of a string (tuning the guitar) allows the player to alter the resonant frequency and pitch when that string is played.

Tuning Forks

Tuning forks have a stable, consistent pitch when struck, and they have been used to tune instruments since the 17th century. These tools make use of resonance because then struck on a surface, the tines (the prongs of the fork) vibrate at the same frequency in opposite directions to produce a tone. Since the tines move in opposite directions, the vibrations it creates interfere, making a standing wave unique to each individual tuning fork. With this, a musician can match a note on his or her respective instrument to the tone produced by the fork and tune their instrument from there.

Check out this video link to learn how to tune your guitar with a tuning fork!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsZ76XdsCU4

Connectedness

1. This concept connects to a wide variety of scientific studies. For example, when discussing and building motors in cars, one can observe resonance when traveling at a specific speed because the motor will vibrate at a specific frequency that causes components of the car to quiver if connected to the motor. Mechanical resonance can be induced in an object by humans to destroy that object. This concept connects to music as discussed above. Finally, there is also electrical resonance as seen when tuning radios. Tuning a radio means adjusting the circuit's resonance frequency to that of the desired radio wave.
2. The concept of resonance applies to mechanical engineering because when designing a system or structure, the resonant frequency of said object must be taken into account. If this is not done, the system could fail or be destroyed if it encounters its resonant frequency induced by another part of the system.
3. An interesting application of resonance is in the use of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technology. An MRI produces an oscillating magnetic field that is applied to the patient at the correct resonant frequency of the protons in the body. Then, the excited protons emit radio waves that are picked up and recorded by coils in the machine. Based on the different waves recorded by the coils, the MRI machine can pinpoint and map out parts of the interior of the human body. This is all possible because the field vibrates the protons at a resonant frequency.

See Also

Nature, Behavior, and Properties of Sound

Doppler Effect

Further Reading

To read more about applications of resonance, follow some of the links below to find scholarly articles and more.

http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/5714592

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mrm.1910330508/pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mrm.1910140108/pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1531-8249(199902)45:2%3C265::AID-ANA21%3E3.0.CO;2-3/full

http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/4681246

http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/5753371

http://www.osapublishing.org/ol/fulltext.cfm?uri=ol-4-7-205

External Links

Here are some videos and other sites that explain the concepts of sound and resonance.

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/Lesson-5/Resonance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPH-JoOtcUo

http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/physics/chapter17section5.rhtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnqLN6QbBlE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJAgrUBF4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBssGPfYBr4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE827gwnnk4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17tqXgvCN0E

References

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/thermo0.html http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/thereq.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/thermo2.html http://www.phys.nthu.edu.tw/~thschang/notes/GP21.pdf http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153532/

Sound

Written by Ryan Trickett