Does this video tell us anything about music?

[Bub]

http://www.wimp.com/pendulumwaves/

 

[Doc Manhattan]

Well, sound is just waves through air... I guess a model like this shows what happens to the waveform as it loses energy over time (with little interference), so maybe it would be helpful for acoustic design of a large, indoor space? Where to put speakers, seats, walls, etc.

But how you'd figure out that info is way over my math and physics paygrade. 8)

 

[MisterE]

Very cool!

This particular pendulum would sound very dissonant musically. If you have a piano handy, play two white keys at the same time and as the sound decays you will begin to hear what sounds like "beating" or "pulsating". That is the sound of two separate waves oscilating with only a few hertz (vibrations per second) difference between them. In other words, that would be the aural equivalent of the first two balls of this pendulum being released alone. Then play 15 consecutive white keys simultaneously and that would be a sonic (musical) representation of this entire pendulum experiment.

Believe me it is much more "harmonious" visually than aurally but exactly the same process is taking place on the piano strings. The piano example would not correspond mathematically to the cycles per second of the inividual balls of this pendulum, but will sound similar enough to get a good idea.

 

[itsKot]

MisterE, that's as perfect of an explanation as my limited musical knowledge lets me conjure up. I've always know notes reverberate along side one another. But to put it visually like in the video puts a whole new spin on it, can't say I've ever tried to picture it actually. Very interesting!