The Physics of Piano

Waveforms of Various Piano Notes

           While examining the waveforms of various notes, an interesting trend can be seen while ascending in pitch. Lower notes on the piano produce a squarish sine wave, whereas the higher notes produce an almost perfect sine wave. This is due to overtones produced by the instrument itself. When the lower notes are struck, the low frequency causes the entire instrument to resonate, causing interference with the string's sound wave. Due to the size and rigidity of the instrument, the interference is consistent and produces a pure sound that is difficult to imitate. At higher frequencies, the frame of the instrument doesn't resonate much and therefore produces less and less interference with higher and higher frequencies. Even with the interference at lower frequencies, the squarish waveforms of a piano still resemble a perfect sine wave when compared to other instruments such as a violin with more random interference.

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