Savart' sonometer
Use
It is used to study the stationary waves generated in a chord attached by both extremities.
Description
It consists of a wooden box with parallelepipedal shape and with an attached ruler to which a chord is attached (connected by one of its extremities and to a weight by the other) resting on two mobile easels. The group is completed with another mobile easel.
Functioning
By a suitable choice of the weight, we can change the tension of the chord and, consequently, the speed of the wave which is going to be generated through it.
Then, we move the mobile easel until we get the required length of the chord. In these conditions, if we pinch the center of the chord with our fingers, a stationary wave is generated.
History
This instrument was invented about 1830 by Félix Savart, a French physicist specialized in acoustics. Today, he is specially remembered by his works on magnetic fields.
