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Sonometer

Sonometer

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Description
A sonometer demonstrates the relationship between the frequency of the sound produced by a plucked string, and the tension, length and mass per unit length of the string. This large and heavy two-string example came from the Smithsonian Institution Instrument Room, and was probably made by Rudolph Koenig in Paris. By terming it a Differential Sonometer of Marloye, Koenig indicated that it had been designed by that important French acoustic instrument maker.
Ref: Rudolph Koenig, Catalogue des Appareils d’Acoustique (Paris, 1865), pp. 24-25.
David Pantalony, Altered Sensations: Rudolph Koenig’s Acoustical Workshop in Nineteenth-Century Paris (2009).
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
sonometer
Measurements
overall: 15 1/8 in x 70 in x 11 1/8 in; 38.4175 cm x 177.8 cm x 28.2575 cm
overall: 180 cm x 28.6 cm x 39 cm; 70 7/8 in x 11 1/4 in x 15 11/32 in
ID Number
PH.314601
catalog number
314601
accession number
205890
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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