Cool! But can you do a video on the science of clarinets? I play one, and that might be cool! Please let me know on here. Thanks!

Hannah Age 11

P.S.,

My birthday was on March 12, so now I'm eleven! Cool, huh?! Your biggest fan!

Hannah

I have seen some of your videos before and i love them.but i can not open them now.

that was a cool video

Dear Robert - I love your videos and use them as a constant source of inspiration when presenting science concepts to children myself. However, my understanding of what is happening here is a little different than the picture you present. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I thought was that the main factor determining pitch here is length rather than mass - the length of resonator being directly related to the wavelength of the standing wave produced, regardless of the diameter - of course with a tube of fixed diameter, the two are directly proportional, and yes increasing the vibrating mass with the same energy will have the effect you describe, but I find that two tubes of equal length but different diameter still produce the same pitch - however maybe the energy required to sound that note will be more (as more mass must be vibrated as you point out). this would I believe make the sound richer in tone quality, but not necessarily change the pitch.
I note that your larger flute was longer as well as wider.

I was just playing about with stuff I have here to test my thoughts, and as the pipes I had were a little too wide to blow, I was working by striking the end of the pipe - maybe this difference affects my findings

I find three factors generally determining pitch in acoustic musical instruments - length, tension (in strings or drumheads) and harmonic overtones (as in the bugle, tabor pipe, etc.) I have been trying to build exhibits for our museum to illustrate these principles (we have a pipe organ made with plastic pipes to show the effect of length, for example) and would really like further clarification if my understanding is wrong.

I puzzled a little about the fact that lower strings on a guitar or piano are often thicker, but my hypothesis is that lower pitches sound quieter to our ear, so we use a thicker string to increase the energy required to vibrate it and thus increase the volume of the sound - now to think of an experiment to test that one out.........

yours, with deepest respect

richard - a fan

Discovery Museum of Tampere, Finland

your alsom lolololololol hahahahahahahahahahahahahah

this is a wonderful musical flute playing video