Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseWare

8.03SC Fall 2012

Notes for Lecture #9: Normal Modes in Sound and Music
Mostofthislectureisadiscussionofsoundanditsgeneration. Movingobjectscouplemechanical
energyintoair,settinguppressurewaveswhichareperceivedassound. Thiscanhappenbothfor
stringed musical instruments and for sound in an enclosure. The two are very similar except for
the boundary conditions. The lecture starts with a reminder of the basic results for strings.
InastringoflengthLwithxedendsandwithatensionT andmassperunitlength,disturbances

propagatewiththespeed v= T/. Fromthe previous lecturebut notrepeated in this one, the

equationforthemodeninthiscaseis: y
n
=A
n
sin(nx/L)cos(
n
t),wherethecostermrepresents
the whole string going up and down with time, while the sin term shows the shape of the string
atanygiventime. Ifisthewavelength,andf thefrequencyinHz,i.e.thenumberofwavesper
second, then the speed is v=f. From the boundary conditions, an integral
number of half-wavelengths must t in the length L. For the
fundamental (or 1st harmonic), n = 1 and the wavelength is
twicethestringlength,i.e.
1
= 2L. Thefrequencyisf
1
=v/2L.
For the second harmonic, n = 2, a whole wavelength ts, so

2
=L and f
2
=v/L. In general,
1
2

n
n=L or
n
= 2L/n and
the corresponding frequency is f
n
=v/
n
=nv/2L (2:40).
Nowdierentboundaryconditionsareconsidered. Ifoneendis
free(whichishardtodowithstrings),wenowrequiretheslope
tobezeroatthatend. Inthiscasethefundamentalhasonlyone-
quarter wave in it, so for n = 1,
1
= 4L and f
1
= v/4L. The
next possible harmonic has 3/4 of a wavelength, so forn=2,
4L

2
= 4L/3 and f
1
= 3v/4L. For each node n,
n
= and f
n
= . Instead of ratios
2n1
1, 2, 3, 4 for xed ends, here we have ratios 1, 3, 5, 7... (6:30).
A vibrating object is more ecient in coupling energy to the air if it is attached to a surface,
as demonstrated with several sound generators. In musical instruments this is called a sounding
s
1 T
board. Allstringinstrumentshavetwoxedendssothefundamentalisf
1
= (9:40). IfLis
L
long,thepitchislower,andviceversa. Forhighertensionorlowermassperunitlength,onegets
ahigherpitch. Inapianothelengthandmassperunitlengthvaryalot,butthetensionisabout
200 N for each string (about equivalent to supporting 20 kg on each string). For the piano, each
(2n1)v
4L

string has a unique tone. For other stringed instruments, dierent notes are generated by varying
thelengthofthestring. Someharpshavexedlengthstringsbuttheycanbepluckedatdierent
places which changes the mix of harmonics generated.
Wind instruments (18:00) have boundary conditions depending on whether one or both of the
ends is open. If an end is open, then it is a node because it must have the same pressure as the
air (the overpressure is 0). For our purposes, the speed of sound is 340 m/s, although the general
formula v = RT/M is mentioned. Here, R is the gas constant, T is the temperature, is a
ratio of specic heats, and M is the molecular weight. With two open ends, the solutions are the
same as for a string,
n
= 2L/n and f
n
= nv/2L (19:30). By blowing air past the end, normal
modeswillgetexcited. Asystemwithoneopenandoneclosedendiseasytobuildandissimilar
(2n1)v
to the (almost impossible to build) case of a string with one end free, so f
n
= .
4L
Thistableoffrequenciesisforopen-open(leftcolumn)andopen-
closed(rightcolumn)systems(22:30). Studentsareencouraged
to calculate these themselves. As expected, large systems have
lower frequency. For a 256 Hz tuning fork, the sounding box (if
open-closed)shouldbe33cmlongandthismatchingisdemon-
strated. With wind instruments, v is xed, so the length is the
onlyeectivevariable. Organpipesareofvariouslengths;utes
haveholestochangetheeectivelengthdependingonwhichholeiscovered. Fora16.6cmopen-
open instrument, the frequency is about 1000 Hz. If it is closed at one end, the the frequency is
only about 512 Hz, as is demonstrated (31:30). A tube open at both ends is rotated at various
speedstodemonstratethefrequenciesofthenormalmodes. Musicalinstrumentsoftenhavemany
harmomincs active at once and this gives a complex wave pattern. A tuning fork generates very
close to only one mode, and a ute is also demonstrated that has a very pure tone. Musical
instruments showing more complex patterns are demonstrated by the students.
For transverse waves in a string with two xed ends separated by a distance L, the normal mode
1
2
y
2
y
solutions to the wave equation given by = are y
n
= A
n
sin(nx/L)cos(
n
t), where
v
2
t
2
x
2

n
= vk
n
= vn/L (54:50). For longitudinal waves such as sound, other boundary conditions
are possible. If it is open-open then the solutions for overpressure p are exactly the same as
for displacement y in the transverse case with two xed ends. For open-closed, one gets instead
(2n1)
solutionssimilartothoseforonexedandonefreeend,namelyk
n
= butstill
n
=vk
n
.
4L
1
2
z
2
z
2
z
Thiscanbegeneralizedtotwodimensionswherethewaveequationis = + (58:00),
v
2
t
2
x
2
y
2
where z is the vertical displacement of a surface above the xy plane. The analog of xed end
MIT OCW 8.03SC 2 Lecture Notes #9

boundary conditions in a string is to x the surface all around the edges. This makes a vibrating
rectangular membrane, rather like a rectangular drum. If the lengths are L
x
and L
y
, then the
boundary conditions are that z = 0 at x = 0 and x = L
x
, and z = 0 at y = 0 and y = L
y
. It
is easy to show that a multiplication of spatial parts very similar to those for a string solves the
m o m o
mx ny
waveequationandboundaryconditions: z(x,y,t) =A
m,n
sin sin cos(
m,n
t)where
L
x
L
y
s
m o
2
m o
2
m n

m,n
=vk
m,n
=v + (1:00:30).
L
x
L
y
Therearemanypossiblenormalmodes,ofwhichthelowesthas
n=m=1, for which the whole membrane moves up and down
at the same time. For m = 2, n = 1, there are two oppositely
movingregions,separatedbyanodalline(wheretheamplitude
is 0) at the midpoint x=L
x
/2. The next mode up would have
four regions. Nodes are demonstrated by driving a plate with
powder on it. At the nodes, the plate is stationary and powder
cansimplysitinplace,elsewhereitisvibratedaway(1:04:45). However,noticethattheboundary
conditions are not what was discussed above. In this case, the middle is vibrated and the outer
edgesarefree. SuchplatesarecalledChladniplates. Themodesaremorecomplexthanthosefor
a surface xed at the edges. The change in modes with frequency can be quite dramatic.
We can now consider the three-dimensional wave equation (1:08:30). The case of a sound cavity
of lengths a, b, c along the x, y, z directions with closed sides and open ends in the z direction is
1
2
p
2
p
2
p
2
p
considered. The wave equation is: = + + with solution:
v
2
t
2
x
2
y
2
z
2
m o

lx my ny
p
l,m,n
=P
l,m,n
cos cos sin cos
l,m,n
t
a b c
wherel=0,1,2,... ,m=0,1,2,... ,n=1, 2, ... (1:11:00). Notethattheconditiononnisdierent
sincen=0wouldjustbenomotionatall. Here
l,m,n
=v (l/a)
2
+ (m/b)
2
+ (n/c)
2
. Ifcisthe
biggest dimension, as is typically true for musical instruments, the lowest mode is
0,0,1
= v/c,
or
0,0,1
= v/L if we call the length of the instrument L as was done previously. For typical
instrumentdimensions,thenextfewlowestmodesalsoinvolvevaryingthelastindexn(1:14:30).
Ademoshowingtheeectofthedierenceinthespeedofsoundinairversusheliumfollows(v in
helium is 3 times that in air according to the formula given above).
MIT OCW 8.03SC 3 Lecture Notes #9

MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu
8.03SC Physics III: Vibrations and Waves
Fall 2012

These viewing notes were written by Prof. Martin Connors in collaboration with Dr. George S.F. Stephans.
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