The Prime Oscillation
Play two tones at once on an organ pedal board. If they are five notes apart - the do-re-mi-fa-sol interval - you will produce a tone that is an octave lower than the lowest note you played. This is a church organist's trick used to get 32 foot sound from 16 foot pipes. Tones in the lower octaves of a piano can produce the same effect. Play C and G and you will hear another C an octave lower. It will wobble a little because of the tempered scale.
When the lower C itself is played, tones sound within it, overtones. These include the C an octave up and the G a fifth beyond that, sounding at their fundamental pitches - true pitch, not tempered. They are overtones of the lower C. When they are played, they reconstitute the lower tone. Any pair of tones will tend to construct a lower tone. Any pair of tones can be in an overtone series.
Oscillating masses in the universe - rotating planets revolving around their star, galactic aggregates - all connect gravitationally. Each influences the others' paths.
Not all planets are playing in the key of C, but they may be overtones of an overtone that does.
Suppose C and G construct CC, the tone an octave below C. Suppose G and the D five notes above it construct GG. Then CC and GG construct CCC. C and G and the D beyond it construct CCC.
Is there a lowest tone? Can there be there a slowest oscillation in the universe?
The universe is infinite. Can the pitch then be infinitely low, the motion of the oscillation infinitely slow?
What is infinitely slow?
When the lower C itself is played, tones sound within it, overtones. These include the C an octave up and the G a fifth beyond that, sounding at their fundamental pitches - true pitch, not tempered. They are overtones of the lower C. When they are played, they reconstitute the lower tone. Any pair of tones will tend to construct a lower tone. Any pair of tones can be in an overtone series.
Oscillating masses in the universe - rotating planets revolving around their star, galactic aggregates - all connect gravitationally. Each influences the others' paths.
Not all planets are playing in the key of C, but they may be overtones of an overtone that does.
Suppose C and G construct CC, the tone an octave below C. Suppose G and the D five notes above it construct GG. Then CC and GG construct CCC. C and G and the D beyond it construct CCC.
Is there a lowest tone? Can there be there a slowest oscillation in the universe?
The universe is infinite. Can the pitch then be infinitely low, the motion of the oscillation infinitely slow?
What is infinitely slow?
posted by Dan McIntyre at 4:17 AM
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