Melde's experiment
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Melde's experiment is a scientific experiment carried out by the German physicist Franz Melde on the stationary waves produced in a tense cable connected to an electric vibrator. This experiment attempted to demonstrate that mechanical waves undergo interference phenomenons. In the experiment, mechanical waves traveled in opposite directions form immobile points, called nodes. These waves were called stationary waves by Melde since the position of the nodes and loops (points where the cord vibrated) stayed static.
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[edit] History
[edit] Principle
A string undergoing transverse vibration illustrates many features common to all vibrating acoustic systems, whether these are the vibrations of a guitar string or the standing wave nodes in a studio monitoring room. In this experiment the change in frequency produced when the tension is increased in the string – similar to the change in pitch when a guitar string is tuned – will be measured. From this the mass per unit length of the string / wire can be derived.
Finding the mass per unit length of a piece of string is clearly possible by using a much similar method – a ruler and some scales – and this will be used to check the results and offer a comparison.
[edit] Theoretical analysis
[edit] Experimental demonstration
[edit] Graphic analysis
[edit] Dependence on the tension-longitude of a wave
[edit] Dependence on the tension-longitude of a wave in a square
[edit] Frequency of stationary waves
[edit] Influence of Melde's experiment
[edit] Sonar
- Main article: Sonar
[edit] Telecommunications
- Main article: Telecommunications
[edit] Music
- Main aritcle: Wind instruments
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