SOUND WAVES IN ORCH

WOW ITS LATE.  anyways this past week in orchestra we held a mini concert on camera for Jana Wang who is undergoing chemo in texas.  The concert made me think about the physics reading and the concept of waves.  When two violins play the same note, the peaks and troughs of the waves combine to make a wave of larger amplitude, thus making the sound louder.  When an entire orchestra plays, the sound is very loud, and most theaters have special ceilings designed to make the sound louder or clearer to the audience.  Once again, physics saves the day.

ukelele

So my two cousins came over for dinner the other day and they brought their ukelele's with them.  Of course they aren't too good because they are only ages 5 and 7, and have only been taking lessons for the last month or so.  But when I tried out their ukelele I noticed that the strings had to vibrate in order to make the sounds, much like all stringed instruments must.  So thats when I realized that the strings move in an up and down motion with a minute amplitude that decreases over time.  Although this isn't simple harmonic motion, it is still a real life example that appeared in the most recent week of my life.  Physics, once again, appears to be everywhere!