How Our Instruments Work

In this project we created various instruments which

produce a full octave of sound. Sound waves are
longitudinal waves which are created by vibrations in a
medium. We created a guitar, chimes, and a recorder.

Guitar: String instruments work by vibrating strings then are

modified by thickness, tension and length of the string. The
guitars hollow body amplifies the sound of the vibrating strings.
Strings or parts of strings may resonate at their fundamental or
overtone frequencies when other strings are sounded, this is the
resonance of the strings. Resonance causes a vibrating string to
produce a sound with constant frequency. If the length or tension
of the string is correctly adjusted, the sound produced is a musical
note. The main way that this guitar works is that instead of
changing the length in a traditional guitar when we push down on
the strings it is changing the tension of the strings to change the
notes. While length and thickness were still a variable the main
variable that we focused on was tension.

Note Frequency (hertz) Wavelength(cm)

C4 261.63 131.87
D4 293.66 117.48
E4 329.63 104.66
F4 349.23 98.79
G4 392.00 88.01
A4 440.00 78.41
B4 493.88 69.85
Chimes: chimes work by hitting a piece of material causing the
material to vibrate producing sound. Chimes are based off of a
materials natural frequency which can be changed by varying the
length or thickness of any given material, or changing the actual
material itself. Usually, harder materials create a better sound
due to them not absorbing the vibrations as much. Suspending
the chime as freely as possible will create the purest sounding
chime because there are no materials absorbing the vibrations it
produces. To create different notes there is a ratio between chime
sizes; an octave is root 2 over 2 times bigger than the octave
above it. Changing the size of a chime to a notes length will not

make the chime sound that note because of the chime vibrating
at its natural frequency. To achieve a full octave, you must find a
length of tube which produces a C note then follow the chime
ratio to achieve the other notes. Here is a link to a table of chime
lengths
Chime note ratio
length
32.2 cm c 1
30.9 cm d .94
29.2 cm e .89
27.6 cm f .84
25.95 cm g .79
24.3 cm a .74
23 cm b .7

Recorder:
The recorder works by vibrations in the air bouncing up and down
inside of the recorder. It makes notes by starting at the mouth of
the person playing it to the hole where the air is being released,
that length is the wavelength. You can hear the noise because the
air travels down the tube and goes out through the holes
producing noise. It has direction with what direction the hole at
the end is open towards. The PVC pipe has a natural frequency
which then was modified by drilling holes at the right length.
Note Frequency Wavelength Length of tube
C3 523.25 264 66
D3 587.33 236 59
E3 659.25 208 52
F3 698.46 196 49
G3 783.99 176 44
A3 880.00 156 39
B3 987.77 140 35