Sound waves(The behavior of soundboards)

[John Delacour]

I beg your pardon, Robin!

I wrote:

>At 12:33 AM -0800 1/7/02, Robin Hufford wrote:
>>Incidentally, the wave velocity of the transverse wave on a 
>>stretched string is the square root of the quotient of the tension 
>>and mass density;
>
>I must say I find this terminology a little unsure.  The 'mass' is 
>the product of the volume and the specific gravity (relative 
>density), so "mass density" to me is tautologous and basically 
>meaningless.  What you term "wave velocity" is what normally is 
>termed 'frequency'.  The formula also involves the length, giving 
>the Frequency as the reciprocal of twice the Length multiplied by 
>the square root of the Tension divided my the Mass
>
>F = 1/(2 * L) * SQRT(T/M)

You were, of course, talking of the velocity of the wave and not the 
frequency.  However your "mass density" is the mass per unit length 
or "linear density" of the wire.

JD