> From: Robin Hufford <hufford1@airmail.net> > These two rudimentary books give a brief, only lightly mathematical > treatment to wave mechanics. It is incumbent to all that profess to be > experts on the subject to comprehend what these, elementary approaches > themselves imply, notwithstanding casual observation and that is that a > standing wave NECESSARILY IMPLIES RIGID TERMINATIONS AND THE ASSOCIATED > REFLECTIONS ARISING THEREFROM. Otherwise, the standing wave itself > cannot exist. The problem with introductory physics texts is that they treat the world in a black and white sort of way: Either a string has fixed terminations and therefore supports standing waves or it does not. In the real world, you can get standing waves if the terminations are not entirely rigid. The terminations need to be... well, rigid enough to support standing waves. So, just because standing waves exist, one cannot conclude that the terminations must be completely rigid. Charles
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