As pre-requisite knowledge, students are supposed to be familiar with the concepts: wavelength, amplitude, frequency, period, sine function. Of course these concepts should be repeated in this subunit but a basic understanding is required to build new knowledge.
The activities in this subunit introduce the students to the following concepts and ideas:
- Resonance
- Fundamental frequency
- Harmonics
- Standing waves
- Relation between the frequency and length of string/air column
- Timbre.
As a source for the teacher, the available physics courses should be appropriate. There are also numerous books that describe the relation between physics and music.
A recommended source, focusing on the physics of musical instruments is the book “Measured tones, the interplay of physics and music” by Ian Johnston (ISBN-10: 0750307625 ISBN-13: 978-0750307628).