[CAUT] Semantics

[Fred Sturm]

On May 8, 2009, at 2:15 PM, Jeff Tanner wrote:

> I apologize for using the word "amplify" incorrectly, as those of  
> you understand it.  Here's how I and the rest of the world  
> previously understood the meaning of "amplify":
>
> Amplify: 1. To make larger or more powerful; increase. 2. To add to,  
> as by illustration and make complete. 3. Exaggerate. 4. Electronics.  
> to produce amplification of.  verb: to write or discourse at length;  
> expatiate.
>
> Source: American Heritage Dictionary, 2nd College Edition.
>
> So, who has the correct definition? Physicists or the rest of the  
> world?
>
> Is it soccer or football?
>
> Semantics.

	I think that American Heritage has it pretty well correct.
	I think Don Mannino's post was an excellent way of putting these  
things. We don't call a speaker an amplifier. We don't call a pair of  
earbuds amplifiers. Amplifiers amplify: "make larger or more powerful,  
increase." A speaker doesn't make anything larger or more powerful. It  
simply "transduces" (maybe "transfer" is an easier term to understand)  
the motion of the driver, which is activated by the signal coming from  
the amplifier, which amplifies the information coming from whatever  
input source it is reading.
	It's a matter of taking energy  and transferring it to vibrations in  
the air. The speaker membrane is inert, as is the soundboard. Provide  
energy input, and it will vibrate and move air. It won't increase the  
energy input, it simply changes it into motion that moves air.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu