The Physics of Music and Color
The Physics of Music and Color deals with two subjects, music and color - sound and light in the physically objective sense - in a single volume. The basic underlying physical principles of the two subjects overlap greatly: both music and color are manife
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Leon Gunther
The Physics of Music and Color
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Leon Gunther Department of Physics and Astronomy Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts USA [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4614-0556-6 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-0557-3 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-0557-3 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011934793 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Dedicated to my mother, Esther (Weiss) Gunther Wand, who nurtured me with a deep appreciation of music and the beauty of nature, and to my wife, Joelle (Cotter) Gunther, who sustains me with her love and wisdom
Preface
This textbook has its roots in a course that was first given by Gary Goldstein and me at Tufts University in 1971. Both of us are theoretical physicists, with Gary focusing on the study of elementary particles and me focusing on condensed matter physics, which is the study of the fundamental behavior of various types of matter – superconductors, magnets, fluids, among many others. However, in addition, we both have a great love and appreciation for the arts. This love is fortunately also manifested in our involvement therein: Gary has been seriously devoted to oil painting. I have played the violin since I was seven and played in many community orchestras. I am also the founder and director of a chorus. Finally, I am fortunate to have a brother, Perry Gunther, who is a sculptor and my inspiration and mentor in the fine arts. It is common to have a course on either the Physics of Music or the Physics of Color. Numerous textbooks exist, many of which are outstanding. Why did we choose to develop a course on both music and color? There are a number of reasons: 1. The basic underlying physical principles of the two subjects overlap greatly because both music and color are manifestations of wave phenomena. In particular, commonalities exist with respect to the production, transmission, and detection of sound and light. Our decision to include both music and color was partly due to the fact that some wave phenomena are relatively easy to demonstrate for sound but not for light; they are experienced in every day life. Examples include diffraction and the Doppler effect. Thus, the study of sound helps us understand li
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