What do you mean by the resonance frequency of a tuning fork or a stretched string?

1 Answer
Feb 18, 2018

See the explanation.

Explanation:

Suppose you had a largish ball suspended by a string. Say for arguments sake; a string of length 10 feet.

You then pulled the ball back by 1 foot and let go. The ball will swing back and forth.

You would have to periodically step backwards for this. As the ball reach the max swing in your direction you gave it a gentle blow. That would impart energy into the ball encouraging to swing gradually further and further in the direction from you (you stepping back as well).

The timing of you puff is synchronised with the with the appropriate timing for the 'FREQUENCY' of the swing.

Object have a natural frequency of oscillation so if you continuously add a small bit of energy at the appropriate timing (frequency) the 'shaking' or 'vibration' of that object will increase in magnitude. That is why a glass will sometimes shatter with particular sound.

A famous case of this is of a suspension bridge in America where the wind caused the cables to vibrate (oscillate) at the natural frequency of the bridge.

Have a look at: