Testing Complete!

We completed the experimental portion of the FSE today and accumulated all the necessary data. We were amazed with how accurate the microphone and software were. Not a single trial deviated more than 1% from the average which is fantastic. Once we had all the data in tables we graphed it using Excel and it closely resembles a root curve. Here is the table of experimental data we gathered:
















And here is the graph!

How the new setup works

This is just a follow up post to show the new placement of the setup as well as to show how it works.

Ingenuity beats pesky problems

After being plagued with problems from yesterday's testing, we met up again today to see what we could do. The first thing we did was try to find a more appropriate place to mount the setup so that it stationary and unimpeded. When searching for a perfect spot we managed to solve more than one problem at the same time. First of all, based on the design of the setup, its quite apparent that mounting it to the roof would be ideal. Lucky for us, there was an available spot on the roof of my basement. This spot happened to be located right next to an air duct. When considering that the emitting sound was a little too quiet, the idea of using the air duct as an amplifier came to mind. This new setup was not only perfectly stationary, but the sound was amplified quite a significant amount.

Also, tampering around with computer software in place of the guitar tuner looks to be the better alternative. Certain software is able to isolate the primary frequency and ignore any external noise pollution, which makes it a much more practical choice.

Problems along the way

Today we began testing and accumulating data for our new proposal of string tension vs frequency. To be honest, the day was very unsuccessful. We had lots of trouble with keeping the setup stationary, generating a loud sound, and accurately measuring the frequency. We were unable to find a good place to mount the setup so we had to make do with simply resting the brackets on two tables positioned beside each-other. Also, it was very difficult to strum/pluck the string hard enough without disturbing and altering the setup. Another pain was the frequency measurer(guitar tuner). All other sounds and interference had to be eliminated to even get a reading, which was a huge pain. To overcome this last problem, we've been tampering with computer software in place of the guitar tuner. We plan on getting together tomorrow once again to deal with these problems.

Setup Completed

After completing a broad idea for the design, we played around with our available materials and came up with something that satisfied the need of the project. The design is simply a guitar tuning key that is attached to a pair of "L" shaped shelf brackets. The plan is to suspend the brackets from something so that we are able to hang the mass to create the tension. The mass will rest on the scale and will slowly be lifted as the tension increases rather than constantly changing the mass completely.

New Design Idea

After discovering that our original idea of string length vs. frequency was linear, we decided to attempt testing tension of the string vs. frequency. The hardest part of this new proposal is designing a setup that can accurately measure the tension of the string. After brainstorming for a large portion of the weekend, we think we have designed a setup that can accurately measure the tension of the string. Knowing some basic physical principals, we figured that the tension could be calculated when an object of a known mass is hung from the string to create the tension. Basically, our setup will utilize this knowledge to obtain accurate data. We hope to begin and finish creating the setup soon. Once we finish we will share some photos online.

The heartbreak of linear-ness

Today lots of progress was made. As previously discussed, we did manage to get our hands on a frequency measurer which allowed us to get to testing. We used a standard acoustic guitar and measured the frequency of the low E string for each fret. Comparing the frequency with the length from the fret to the top bracers, we obtained data that appeared to be frighteningly linear. Not all has gone to waste thus far however. We plan to keep the experiment very similar with one small change. Rather than using length as our independent variable, we will vary the tension off the string in hopes of non-linear results! We're in the process of bouncing ideas off each other of a way to accurately measure the tension in a fairly feasible way.

The search for a frequency measurer!

So we have been looking all over for a device that we can use to accurately measure the frequency emitted by a vibrating string in our experiment. We've searched all over an if everything comes together we should be getting our hands on one tomorrow. Once we get this we can finally kick off the testing and get some data.

Idea approved

Our proposal for the FSE has been approved by Mr. Hnidei. Basically, our idea is to experiment on the relationship between the frequency of the sound emitted by a resonating guitar/violin string and the length of the string in question. We plan to test whether this relationship is non-linear as soon as possible.

MHF4U/MCV4U FSE Topic

Just as a brief introduction, this blog has been created to record and display publicly the results and data accumulated for our MHF4U/MCV4U final summative evaluation. The group to which this blog belongs to consists of Spencer Gardner, Iyad Al-Nasri, and Chris Chesnik.