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Questions tagged [frequency]

Frequency is the rate of repetitive aspect in the amplitude over a given dimension.

146 votes
8 answers
281k views

Why does a remote car key work when held to your head/body?

I was trying to unlock my car with a keyfob, but I was out of range. A friend of mine said that I have to hold the transmitter next to my head. It worked, so I tried the following later that day: ...
Yababaa's user avatar
  • 2,239
98 votes
7 answers
22k views

How can a black hole produce sound?

I was reading this article from NASA -- it's NASA -- and literally found myself perplexed. The article describes the discovery that black holes emit a "note" that has physical ramifications ...
Aarthi's user avatar
  • 1,069
83 votes
6 answers
24k views

Why does public mains power use 50-60 Hz and 100-240 V?

Is there a physical reason behind the frequency and voltage in the mains electricity? I do not want to know why exactly a certain value was chosen; I am rather interested to know why that range/order ...
SuperCiocia's user avatar
  • 24.9k
82 votes
11 answers
122k views

What determines color -- wavelength or frequency?

What determines the color of light -- is it the wavelength of the light or the frequency? (i.e. If you put light through a medium other than air, in order to keep its color the same, which one would ...
user541686's user avatar
  • 4,191
76 votes
5 answers
161k views

Do low frequency sounds really carry longer distances?

It is a common belief that low frequencies travel longer distances. Indeed, the bass is really what you hear when the neighbor plays his HiFi loud (Woom Woom). Try asking people around, a lot of them ...
Max's user avatar
  • 863
70 votes
8 answers
158k views

Why doesn't the frequency of light change during refraction?

When light passes from one medium to another its velocity and wavelength change. Why doesn't frequency change in this phenomenon?
Self-Made Man's user avatar
62 votes
12 answers
25k views

Are there pure sine waves in nature or are they a mathematical construct that helps us understand more complex phenomena?

I've studied a bit of frequency analysis with FFT and optimal phase binning and was taught that we can represent any composite waveform as the sum of its component frequencies. I understand the maths ...
Schizomorph's user avatar
61 votes
4 answers
32k views

Why do prisms work (why is refraction frequency dependent)?

It is well known that a prism can "split light" by separating different frequencies of light: Many sources state that the reason this happens is that the index of refraction is different for ...
Brandon Enright's user avatar
60 votes
2 answers
4k views

Why aren't the lengths of the bars on a toy glockenspiel proportional to the wavelengths?

As you might already know, frequency of musical notes is arranged in a such a way that if, for example, an A note has frequency of $x$, another A note which is placed one octave higher would produce ...
Moctava Farzán's user avatar
54 votes
5 answers
9k views

Are there any theoretical limits on the energy of a photon?

Is there any lower or upper limit on the energy of a photon? i.e. does the mathematical framework we currently use to study photons blow up when a photon surpasses a certain upper limit of energy? (or ...
Hritik Narayan's user avatar
53 votes
4 answers
12k views

Red shifted to what?

I searched and found a lot of questions and answers about red shift here but none with the answer to mine. (sorry if it is there somewhere and I did not find it.) Everyone is saying the light from ...
OCTAV's user avatar
  • 611
45 votes
7 answers
6k views

Why is it so easy to create audible sound?

Context Why is it so easy to create audible sounds in life with basically anything? Putting your cup of coffee on a table comes with a sound Turning a page of your book comes with a sound Even ...
user929304's user avatar
  • 4,685
44 votes
8 answers
8k views

How do headphones and earphones produce good bass if tiny speakers can't produce low frequency sounds very well?

It's a well known fact that small/tiny speakers cannot produce low frequency sounds very well. Conversely, large speakers cannot produce high frequency sounds very well. Hence the need for tweeters ...
navigator's user avatar
  • 811
43 votes
5 answers
121k views

Why does medium not affect the frequency of sound?

I read in various places that frequency does not change with medium. Instead, wavelength changes in different mediums due to a change in speed. I understand why speed changes with medium, but I'm not ...
carbenoid's user avatar
  • 553
43 votes
5 answers
72k views

What is the highest possible frequency for an EM wave?

What is the highest possible frequency, shortest wavelength, for an electromagnetic wave in free space, and what limits it? Is the answer different for EM waves in other materials or circumstances? ...
Harry Weston's user avatar

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