Back to 17.5 Sound Interference and Resonance: Standing Waves in Air Columns

17.5 Exercise 2

Avg difficulty 2.5

We have emphasized sound applications in our discussions of resonance and standing waves, but these ideas apply to any system that has wave characteristics. Vibrating strings, for example, are actually resonating and have fundamentals and overtones similar to those for air columns. More subtle are the resonances in atoms due to the wave character of their electrons. Their orbitals can be viewed as standing waves, which have a fundamental (ground state) and overtones (excited states). It is fascinating that wave characteristics apply to such a wide range of physical systems.

How is it possible to use a standing wave's node and antinode to determine the length of a closed-end tube?

OpenStax College Physics 2e, 17.5 Sound Interference and Resonance: Standing Waves in Air Columns, exercise 2

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Adapted from College Physics © 2022 Rice University. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Sources: College Physics 2e, College Physics for AP® Courses 2e. Imported at revision f98d7a7.