Computational Physics Project Proposal

Greg Cristina

Teddy Stanescu

Chapter of interest: Ch 11 – Vibrations, Waves, and the Physics of Musical Instruments. For this project, We want to explore different aspects of vibrations and waves as they occur in musical instruments. In general, we would like to explore everything in this chapter. This can involve modeling string displacement and decay through plucked and struck strings as well as analyzing the frequencies produced. We can also compare this data calculated in MatLab to a real life setting, recording a string being plucked or struck, then using measurements to model the same scenario in MatLab, then compared calculated vs. actual results. Also we would like to explore the overtones of the sounds generated and see if it correlates to the frequencies found using a Fourier Transformation on the recorded frequencies. If we have enough time, we would also like to repeat these experimental steps with a drum, exploring the way waves travel on a circular plane with locked or heavily damped edges (the rim of the drum). The drum can be struck in the center of the drumhead or the center and the rim at the same time, producing two different sounds and wave patterns.