Does the medium in which a string vibrates affect its pitch?

Answer 1

Yes, it does. Denser media will produce lower tones, whereas less dense media will produce higher tones. A clear example of this is the change in the pitch of the voice that occurs when people speak after inhaling helium. I disagree. The same pitch can be obtained through any type of medium by shortening or lengthing the string to compensate for the density of the medium in which the string resides. I believe your query should be in regard to the tone which is dictated by the medium, the pitch is dictated by the intervention.Of course you could compensate, if the medium did alter the pitch. My question was, does it (all other factors remaining unchanged)? On a Scientific American site a professor stated that it does not. The helium voice is a change of timbre, but the fundamental frequency remains the same. Another scientist told me that the helium voice is not comparable to a vibrating string anyway. Can anyone find an experimental report?

Answer 2

First off, in order to get a sound from a string, the string must be stretched.

With that in mind, two answers:

1.) A longer string with the exact same tension as a shorter string, the longer

string will have a lower pitch.

2.) A longer string will have a higher pitch the more tension given. If your short

string does not change tension, but the longer one is drawn up tighter, you

could have the exact same pitch from both.

Answer 3

The larger the guitar, the larger the surface area, and therefore the pitch decreases.

On the contrary, the size of a guitar does not affect pitch at all. The size of the strings regulates pitch. For example, a string bass has a very deep pitch but it is the string length not the body size that controls that. The body size does contribute resonance with acoustic instruments, so a larger body would make a bigger sound.

Answer 4

Thinking of it from the perspective that the "object" is a string then you can relate it to a guitar. (this example is just most likely to be understood, the properties apply to everything)

Length:

The longer something is the "lower" the sound will be. Just as vise-versa the shorter it is the "higher" the pitch will sound. relating to the guitar, this is why there are frets. when you move your fingers up and down the neck you are technically making the string longer and shorter (the string cant vibrate past your finger)

Width:

Usually the wider the object the deeper the sound. staying with strings on the guitar- you will notice that the "lower sounding" strings are thicker than the "higher sounding" strings. this is partially due to the same reason that when you blow into a big bottle you get a low sound and when you blow into a small bottle you get a high sound.

Answer 5

The perceived effect of sounds changing in pitch is the ear's detection of altering frequency. When a string's length changes then its frequency also changes.