Editing Flame Tube (section)

== Why It Works ==

This demonstration introduces ''Waves'', which are a type of oscillation that accompanies an energy transfer. Sound Waves are ''Compression'' waves, which travel with an in-and-out motion through a medium. By using the flame tube, we are transforming the compression waves into transverse waves, so to make it easier to identify the different parts of the waves. When we look at the transverse wave we made with the flame tube, we can see that there are high points and low points. The ''Peak'' is the high point, and the ''Trough'' is the low point, with the mid point of the wave being called the ''Node''. The height of a wave is the ''Amplitude'', which is often shortened to amp. To make a wave taller or shorter, you have to adjust the volume, or amps. The distance from one peak to the next is the ''Wavelength'', which with sound we can recognize it as a note. To change the note heard, you have to increase or decrease the wavelength. The ''Frequency'' of a wave is the inverse of the wavelength. A way to think of it is that the frequency is the number of waves per second. If you start at Center C on a piano and go up an octave, you are ''doubling'' the frequency of that note. Frequency and wavelength are inverse to each other, so when you double the frequency, you cut the wavelength in half! Likewise, if you cut the frequency in half, you would double the wavelength.

{| class="wikitable" style="color:black; background-color:#ddd; text-align: center; margin: auto"
|+ 
|-
|'''Peak''':
|'''Trough''':
|'''Node''':
|'''Amplitude''':
|'''Wavelength''':
|'''Frequency''':
|-
|Highest Point
|Lowest Point
|Mid Point
|Height of Wave
|Distance from Peak to Peak
|Number of waves over a set distance
|}

When we listen to music, we know that there are a lot of notes in the music working together or against each other. By playing a song through the Flame Tube, you can see how some notes work together, creating really high flames or easy-to-see waves. You can also see where the notes don't work together, when certain spots in the flame tube get really low flames, or get put out! When the notes are working together, we are seeing ''constructive interference'', or interference that adds onto each other and amplifies. When the notes clash, we are seeing ''destructive interference'', or interference that subtracts from each other and diminishes.