Tree of SCIENCE!!! #5

By drorzel on December 17, 2007.

I've been scanting the physics content so far with the Tree of SCIENCE!!! posts, so here's one from my own branch of science:

This one is a little Santa/ elf guy with a one-man-band rig, which of course stands for the venerable science of acoustics.

There's lots of great physics material in this one. The tone of the bell that he's carrying will be determined by resonance of sound waves inside the cavity of the bell, and the normal modes of waves on a drumhead is a rich and fascinating topic. The mathematics used to describe these situations is the same basic mathematical apparatus used to describe the propagation of classical light waves, and fairly similar to the basic equations of (non-relativistic) quantum mechanics.

So, let's hear it for acoustics in the Tree of SCIENCE!!!

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Mystery of the buzzing ocean discovered

Another science song writing challenge... Give me some good latin names to work with!

O.K. I just re-strung my guitar and it's sounding oh so pretty right now. As well, my delayed Christmas present is also arriving soon (a Fender acoustic bass - woo hoo!).

Ele-Comm: Short for Elephant Communication

Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell is a Stanford University professor whose research focuses on how elephant vocalizations travel through the ground for great distances, and how other elephants can understand them, just as they understand acoustic sound, which travels through the air.

Cultural Synthetic Biology

The future potential of synthetic biology is usually discussed in terms of applications in fields like medicine, food science, and the environment.

YAY! Modes and nodes and partials, the three gifts for the baby Jesus. Plus a harmonica.

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