Frequency

by: LIBRA

“How often” the particles of the medium vibrate when it passes a medium.

It is the number of complete back-and-forth vibrations of a particle per unit of time.

Frequency

Unit: Hertz (Hz)

where: 1 Hertz= 1 vibration/second

Frequency

Each particle of the medium vibrates at the same frequency.

This is sensible since each particle vibrates due to the motion of its nearest neighbour.

Frequency

o Subsequently, a guitar string vibrating at 500 Hz will set the air particles in the room vibrating at the same frequency of 500 Hz, which carries a sound signal to the ear of a listener, which is detected as a 500 Hz sound wave.

Frequency

Also refers to the number of compressions (high pressure) or rarefactions (low pressure) that pass a given point per unit of time.

A detector could be used to detect the frequency of these pressure oscillations over a given period of time.

The frequency is simply the reciprocal of the period.

A sound wave with a high frequency would correspond to a pressure time plot with a small period while sound wave with low frequency would correspond to a pressure time plot with a large period

Frequency