Beats Experiment

Beats, or beat frequencies, are an acoustic phenomenon that occurs when sounds of two different frequencies overlap. As I have already learned through fourier's theorem, overlapping waves synthesize a wave of a new shape. This is fundamental in beats.

For my experiment, I first recorded the waveform of two tuning forks:

(C 256)

(G 384)

Both tuning forks appear to have a nearly pure waveform. As a recorded the ringing of two tuning forks simultaneously, I found a very different looking waveform:

The data pertaining to the graphs are summarized in the following table:

The frequency found when both tuning forks were played was found to be about 125 hertz, which equals the higher frequency minus the lower frequency. This difference is known as the beat frequency, and it appears because of the overlap of the two waves' different frequencies.

Beats play an essential role in the physics of music and harmony. Because the two tuning forks were in tune relative to each other, the beat frequency was also in tune and sounded pleasant. When instruments are properly in tune, beat frequencies are able to add to the harmonic richness of sound.

However, if two musical instruments are out of tune and are played together, their beat frequency is not in tune. When this happens, humans perceive the combination of sounds to be dissonant. In this sense, playing music is the act of creating air vibrations that act constructively with each other in order to synthesize something new. 

Works Cited:

 "Interference and Beats." The Physics Classroom. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.