The object on the right-hand side of Fig. 1 is the whistling mechanism of an old-fashioned tea kettle. This started me thinking about similar devices in which a thin blade of air strikes a sharp wedge and a resonator is used to pick out specific frequencies. This note tells how I went about using the frequency spectrum application on a smartphone to learn more about these systems. This would seem to be a good line of small-scale research that would appeal to the introductory physics student who is searching for a science fair project.
References
1.
There have been several recent articles in The Physics Teacher using a frequency spectrum application with a smartphone. A basic one is
Jochen
Kuhn
and Patrik
Vogt
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Thomas B.
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M.
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,” Phys. Teach.
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2015
).3.
Thomas B.
Greenslade
Jr., “The acoustical apparatus of Rudolph Koenig
,” Phys. Teach.
30
, 518
–524
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1992
).4.
Thomas B.
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Jr., “Acoustic resonators
,” Phys. Teach.
50
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).5.
Olga
Stafford
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,” Phys. Teach.
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).© 2016 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2016
American Association of Physics Teachers
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