Question

A vibrating tuning fork, held over an air column of a given length with its one end closed, produces a loud audible sound. Name the phenomenon responsible for it and explain the observation.

Answer 1

The phenomenon responsible for producing a loud audible sound is named resonance. The vibrating tuning fork causes the forced vibrations in the air column. For a certain length of air column, a loud sound is heard. This happens when the frequency of the air column becomes equal to the frequency of the tuning fork.

Answer 2

Resonance describes the phenomenon. When the tuning fork frequency is 256 Hz, the loudness of a sound can be either 256 Hz or an integer multiple of 256. i.e., (256 × 1) Hz, (256 × 2) Hz, (256 × 3) Hz, ... or (256 × 5). In other words, the frequency of the tuning fork is 256 Hz, 512 Hz, 768 Hz or 1280 Hz.