Abstract
DURING a recent visit to Birmingham mv friend and host, Mr. Lawson Tait, showed me some interesting experiments with one of Mr. Galton's whistles, capable of yielding vibrations beyond the limit of hearing. This led to the suggestion of trying a sensitive flame with these whistles, and in fulfilment of my promise to select and send to Mr, Tait a burner sensitive to very high notes, I was yesterday led to make the following experiment, the result of which is, I believe, new, and I think sufficiently interesting to put on record. A sensitive flame was obtained just two feet high when undisturbed, but shrinking down to seven inches under the influence of the feeblest hiss or the clink of two coins. Adjusting the Galton whistle, which Mr. Tait lent me, so as to yield its lowest note; little effect was produced on the flame; a shrill dog-whistle produced a slight forking of the flame, but that was all. Raising the pitch of the Galton whistle, the flame became more and more agitated, until, when I had nearly reached the upper limit of audibility of my left ear, and had gone quite beyond the limit of my right ear, the flame was still more violently affected. Raising the pitch still higher, until I quite ceased to hear any sound, and until several friends could likewise detect no sound, even when close to the whistle, I was astonished to observe the profound effect produced upon the flame. At every inaudible puff of the whistle the flame fell fully sixteen inches, and burst forth into its characteristic roar, at the same time losing its luminosity, and when viewed in a moving mirror, presenting a multitude of ragged images, with torn sides and flickering tongues—indicating a state of rapid, complex, and vigorous vibration.
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BARRETT, W. The Effect of Inaudible Vibrations upon Sensitive Flames . Nature 16, 12 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/016012a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/016012a0