The weird music of Sarah and Ali - $5 Physics quiz

  • The weird music of Sarah and Ali - $5 Physics quiz


     



    Along with her musical team band, Sarah wants to become a famous and worldwide selling artist. She is incredibly passionate about musical instruments, particularly in the acoustic guitar. Aside from her interest in music, she also loves to dig down into theories about the world of physics.



    One day, a team member named Ali proposed a suggestion for trying to synchronously play the acoustic guitar along with Sarah because he feels that it is much more soothing to hear multiple instruments playing at the same time. Sarah loved Ali's suggestion and as soon as they played the guitar together, suddenly a loud thump of noise popped up. Both Sarah and Ali were confused about why that sudden loud noise got produced as they both played the guitars simultaneously.


    Now, using the concepts of Physics, answer the following: 


    Why was there a moment of loud thumping noise while Sarah and Ali attempted to synchronously play the acoustic guitar?


    Please try to write your answer in 185 words or less in the comments section below. Please submit your answer by July 15th midnight, Bangladesh time. Then, we will share everyone's answers and start a discussion on this topic. The person with the best, clear, easy to understand and non plagiarized answer will get $5. Runner-up will get $3. Please try to explain your answer to a non-technical audience with zero physics knowledge.  So its not what you say, but how you say it to make your answer interesting to read!


    --Quiz prepared by Sajid Mahmud Choudhury, Physics Teacher


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    The winner of this quiz is: 



    Tanveer Tausif Ratul (Winner, $5)


    Tanveer's answer was written in clear language that resonated well with the audience. The way he described the concepts was easy to understand for anyone. Though his answer had some statements, which may not be scientifically correct (example, definition of phase needs to be corrected), it does not hurt the understanding. 


     


    The runner-up of this quiz is: 



    Zarin Sadaf Snigdha (Runner-up, $3)


    Zarin's response was scientifically correct. But the description was more technical and may not be clear to common audience. But still one of the best answers. 


    Thanks to all the other following contributors for participating in this project. It was a good learning experience to read everyone's point of view.    



    Shadman Chowdhury 


     



    Hasnain Tariq


     



    Noorjahan Binte


     



    Farjana Lima


     


    Thank you all! All the best in the next quiz.  

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Comments

8 comments
  • Zarin sadaf  snigdha
    Zarin sadaf snigdha To answer this question we need to look at the principle of superposition of waves which states when 2 or more waves meet at a point the displacement or amplitude is equal to the vector summation of the amplitude of the individual waves. Here when they...  more
    July 13, 2021
  • Tanveer Tausif Ratul
    Tanveer Tausif Ratul The above phenomena is related to the terms-Interference and Superposition.When Sarah & Ali attempted to play
    the acoustic guitar synchronously,two sound waves were generated from two guiters at the exact same time.I mean each one produced the same...  more
    July 14, 2021
  • Tanveer Tausif Ratul
    Tanveer Tausif Ratul that,when two waves are in opposite phase (their amplitude direction is opposite) & the superimpose on
    each other,the resulting amplitude is zero which is known as-Destructive Interference.It means the two waves cancel each other.Therefore,no sound will...  more
    July 14, 2021
  • Hasnain Tariq
    Hasnain Tariq actually this happens due to resonance frequency . this is the frequency where superposition of waves can generate. same happen in the case of Sarah and Ali frequency of both musical instrument match suddenly this create loud thumping noise.
    July 14, 2021