Physics 103: Sound and Music

This course will provide students with conceptual, quantitative, and laboratory based analysis of sound, musical instruments, music recording and storage, and room acoustics. Through detailed analysis of musical instruments as physical systems, students will develop an understanding of important physical concepts including sound waves, harmonic oscillators, energy, standing waves, resonance, and more. The course will culminate in student projects that may include building an instrument, designing and executing an experimental investigation related to acoustics, or extending course material to a new area of inquiry through a research paper. The course will meet four hours a week with two of those hours typically devoted to laboratory based learning.