Physics 198 – Fall 2003
Mechanics and Syllabus for the Course
Lecturer: Professor David Carter-Lewis Office A415 Physics, 294-8269
Office Hours: 10-11 am T,Th dalewis@iastate.edu
Lab Assistant: Mr. Nathan Grau Office A332 Physics, 294-3565
Course Secretary: Mrs. Judy Zunkel Office in Room 12 Physics
Times/Rooms:
Lectures are 9 am, on Tuesday and Thursday, in Physics Room 38
Labs are all in Physics Room 78:
Sec. 1, 2-4 pm, Thursday
Sec. 2, 10-12 am, Friday
Sec. 3, 12-2 pm, Friday
Catalog Description: Physics of Music.
Introductory level course on sound for nonphysics majors. Properties of pure tones and harmonics; human perception of sound; room acoustics; scales; production and analysis of music by voice, string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.
Text: The Science of Sound by Rossing, Moore and Wheeler
Lectures: The lectures are the heart of the course. They are the basis for the homework, exams and laboratories. Much of the material is in the text as well, though the coverage and emphasis will be different at times. There will be unannounced quizzes during lecture. These will be 10-15 minutes long and over topics covered recently.
Laboratory: There will be approximately eight laboratories during the semester with writeups distributed ahead of time. The first laboratory will be during the second week of classes (on Sept. 4 and 5). It is necessary to pass the laboratory in order to pass the course.
Grades: These will be based upon scores as follows.
In-class exams 40 points
Homework and in-class quizzes 15 points
Laboratory 20 points
Final exam 25 points
for a total of 100 points. There will be three in-class exams given during the semester and the lowest score of these three exams will be dropped from the total score. There will be no makeup exams given during the semester.
Description: Part I of the course is intended to provide a background in the fundamentals of physics sufficient to understand basic ideas in sound and musical acoustics. We will begin with a brief mathematics review (see Appendix in the text.) We will then cover topics such as motion, force, energy, vibrating systems, waves and resonance as is Rossing Ch.1 through 4. For some students this will be a review; for others it will be new material. A strong backgroundls in physics and mathematics is not required. Willingness to learn is required.
Part II of the course covers topics in hearing (Ch. 5), sound pressure, power and loudness (Ch. 6 ), pitch and timbre (Ch. 7), combination tones and harmony (Ch. 8) and musical scales and temperament (Ch. 9). In Part III of the course, we will address the question of how musical instruments produce sound. In particular, we will study stringed (Ch. 10), brass (Ch. 11), woodwind (Ch. 12), percussion (Ch. 13), and keyboard (Ch. 14) instruments, and finally the human voice (Ch. 15). A short Part IV of the course will address the physics of auditoriums, and the effects of noise on people (Ch. 31).