ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of the singing wineglass is familiar to many. Most people have run a finger along the rim of a wine glass with the right speed and pressure to get it to whistle a tone or perhaps heard a glass harmonica being played. However, have you ever noticed and wondered why the vibrations caused by a finger on a glass produce a pulsating sound, rather than a steady, constant-amplitude vibration? Further exploration reveals that the sound and pulsations of a wine glass vary depending on the way the wine glass is stimulated. In this paper, we investigate and model the characteristic sounds produced by three different cases: the pulsating sound exhibited by a finger run along the rim of a wine glass, the steady tone produced by a stationary finger on a rotating wine glass, and the decaying pulsations exhibited by a struck rotating wine glass. Analyzing the qualitative differences among these three cases provides opportunities for students to hone experimental, modeling, and data analysis skills in an intermediate level undergraduate experimental physics course.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors want to thank Alex Chally for building the apparatus, Tetiana Korzun for the art work showing the experimental setup, Sara Chun, William Hahn, and Jay Jones for helping with the data collection, and Albert Bae, Erik Bodegom, and Robert Hauschild for their insights and advice.
REFERENCES
- 1. A. P. French, “ In vino veritas: A study of wineglass acoustics,” Am. J. Phys. 51, 688–694 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.13147, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
- 2. J. W. S. Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound, 2nd ed. ( MacMillan & Company, London, 1894), Vol. I, pp. 383–389. Google Scholar
- 3. R. T. Spurr, “ The ringing of wine glasses,” Wear 4, 150–153 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1016/0043-1648(61)90317-9, Google ScholarCrossref
- 4. H. Fenkner, “ Ueber die Transversalschwingungen einerseits offener Metallcylinder,” Ann. Phys. 244, 185–192 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.18792440912, Google ScholarCrossref
- 5. T. D. Rossing, “ Chladni's law for vibrating plates,” Am. J. Phys. 50, 271–274 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.12866, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
- 6. T. D. Rossing, “ Wine glasses, bell modes, and Lord Rayleigh,” Phys. Teach. 28(9), 582–585 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.2343166, Google ScholarScitation
- 7. T. D. Rossing, “ Acoustics of the glass harmonica,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95(2), 1106–1111 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1121/1.408458, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
- 8. Logger pro, Vernier Software & Technology, <https://www.vernier.com/products/software/lp/>. Google Scholar
- 9. G. H. Bryan, “ On the beats in the vibrations of a revolving cylinder or bell,” Cambridge Philos. Soc. 7(3), 101–111 (1890). Google Scholar
- 10. S. V. Joubert, M. Y. Shatalov, and T. H. Fay, “ Rotating structures and Bryan's effect,” Am. J. Phys. 77, 520–525 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.3088877, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
- 11. P. Loveday and C. Rogers, “ Free vibration of elastically supported thin cylinders including gyroscopic effects,” J. Sound Vib. 217(3), 547–562 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1006/jsvi.1998.1765, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
- 12. M. Y. Shatalov and P. W. Loveday, “ A theory of errors in vibratory gyroscopes,” in Proceedings of the DGON Symposium on Gyro Technology, Stuttgart 1995, Chap. 15. Google Scholar
- 13. D. M. Rozelle, “ The hemispherical resonator gyro: From wineglass to the planets,” Proceedings of the 19th AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Savannah, Georgia, 2009, pp. 1157–1178. Google Scholar
Article Metrics
Views
2,077
Citations
Crossref
0
Web of Science
ISI
0
Altmetric
Please Note: The number of views represents the full text views from December 2016 to date. Article views prior to December 2016 are not included.
