{"157741":{"#nid":"157741","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Frontiers in Physics Public Lecture: Nick Giordano, Purdue University","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhy does a piano sound like a piano? A similar question can be asked of virtually all musical instruments. A particular note, such as middle C, can be produced by a piano, a violin, and a clarinet.\u0026nbsp; Yet, it is easy for even a musically untrained listener to distinguish between these instruments.\u0026nbsp; One would like to understand why the sound of the \u201csame\u201d note depends greatly on the instrument.\u0026nbsp; In particular, we would like to understand what aspects of the piano are most critical in producing its musical tones.\u0026nbsp; The questions we will address in the talk include:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWho invented the piano and why?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhy does the piano have 88 keys and not more or fewer?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EHow and why is the tone color of a loud note different from that of a soft note, and why is this important?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhy are the bass strings on a piano made by wrapping a coil of wire around a central wire core?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EA piano tone is the sum of components that can be described by sine waves. The frequencies of these sine waves deviate a small amount from a simple harmonic series. What is the source of these deviations and why are they important?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;After we have addressed all of these questions, we\u2019ll be able to understand why a piano sounds like a piano.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPhysics of the Piano\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Physics of the Piano"}],"uid":"27664","created_gmt":"2012-09-28 13:38:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:00:10","author":"Alison Morain","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2012-10-01T19:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2012-10-01T20:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2012-10-01T20:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2012-10-01 23:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2012-10-02 00:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2012-10-02 00:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/seminars-colloquia\/series\/physics-colloquium\/nick-giordano-20121001","title":"http:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/seminars-colloquia\/series\/physics-colloquium\/..."},{"url":"http:\/\/www.physics.purdue.edu\/people\/faculty\/ng.shtml","title":"http:\/\/www.physics.purdue.edu\/people\/faculty\/ng.shtml"}],"groups":[{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"44951","name":"Nick Giordano"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:alison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ealison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}