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Two identical taut strings under the same tension produce a note of the same fundamental frequency - The tension in one of them is now increased by a very small amount . (a) If they are played together in their fundamental, show that the frequency of the beat produced is . (b) Two identical violin strings, when in tune and stretched with the same tension, have a fundamental frequency of . One of the strings is retuned by increasing its tension. When this is done, beats per second are heard when both strings are plucked simultaneously at their centres. By what percentage was the string tension changed?
Solution
VerifiedTheoretical reminder
We know that the wavelength and frequency determine the speed of a wave. They are related by the following formula:
The speed of a sound wave in guitar string is proportional to the force of tension in the string , and inversely proportional to the linear density (mass per unit of length, unit: ) of the string in the following way:
We know that when a standing wave is formed in a string the number of antinodes determines the harmonic of the wave. This gives us a result that the length of the string is equal to a integer number of wavelength halves, that is:
Rearranging:
From this we see that any wavelength lambda that fulfils this equation for an integer can produce a standing wave.
Beats are formed by the interfering of two frequencies that are played simultaneously.. They can be heard as a periodical change in loudness of the resulting sound. The frequency of a beat is the difference of the interfering frequencies:
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