The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-12-15
OURIOSITIES OF SOUND AND VIBRA-
TION,

Not many evenings ago. while a
young lady was singing, the glass
shade on a gas-burner broke. fright
ening the singer nearly out of her
wits, and though the chandelier con-
tanned nine glass shades, the one
Immediately in front OF where the
lady stood was the only one broken.
Her voice, which was loud and strong
had shattered the glass, but it is not
less strange than true. | know a
person who can break small tum-
bier of thin glass by holding it be-
fore his mouth and making a pecu-
liar trilling noise. While away up
amid the A Alpine solitudes of Switzer-
land few years ago, l noticed the
muleateers tied up the bells on their
mules, and was told that the pro-
tracted combined tinkling would
start an avalanche. A dog barking
would make the strings of a piano.
forte sound. and, after all, vibration
of the strings is what makes all the
music.
Vibration is simply a moving to
and fro, as we can see the pendulum
Of the clock do. All things have a
certain vibration, though we cannot
always see it. Some things have a
number of vibrations in their differ
ent parts, and when two things vi
brate in time with each other, and
are near each other, though it is only
air that connects them, the move
mcnt of one is affected by the other.
The lady's voice broke the shade in
the chandelier because the two vibra-
ted in time with each other, and the
motion of the voice so increased the
motion of the glass as to loosen its
particles and allow them to fall apart.
When two clocks whose pendulums
have the same range of vibration are
in the same room, and the clock
doors are open, if the pendulum of
one is set in motion the pendulum of
the other will also move. This is
the reason; every time the pendulum
of the clock vibrates it sends puff
OF air in the direction of the pendu-
lum of the second clock, and these
puffs, continued regularly, set the
pendulum of the second clock going.
When two pianos are In the same
room, if the strings of one are struck,
not only will they vibrate, but also
the corresponding strings ofthe other
piano, providing that the forte pedal
of the second piano has been de-
pressed. If you whistle a note into
a piano or violin the strings of the
instrument in unison with that note
will audibly take it up.
| noticed the boys carrying milk
about the streets of London in pals
which hung from a yoke on ther
shoulders, and are held off from their
bodies by hoops just below their
waists. If these boys kept up reg
ular step, the vibration of their
bodies would increase the vibration
of the milk until that was spilled.
The little fellows may not quite un-
derstand the philosophy of the mat
ter, but they know they must change
their step from time to time to keep
their milk in their pals.
A strong gust of wind will uproot
a majestic tree when it comes just in
time with the trees own swing or
vibration. Some years ago there
was considerable trouble and annoy
ance in one of the mills in Massa-
chusetts because the walls and floors
of the building were shaken on GER
tain days by the machinery. AT these
times nearly all the water in the pals
would slop out by the motion OF the