Friday, 19 August 2016

waves - What characterizes a metallic sound, and why do metals have a metallic sound?


We know that when we strike a metal, it usually has a characteristic "sharp" sound, unlike when we strike wood, say.


What characterizes this "metallic sound"? Does it have a well-defined power spectrum? What are its generic properties?


Also, why do metals have a metallic sound?


My best guess would be that metals have high Young's / Bulk modulus and so the resonances for typically sized metals should be at fairly high frequencies, and since they are very elastic, they wouldn't dissipate energy all that easily, so the resonances would have small FWHM and hence be sharp. So my guess is that a "metallic sound" has distinct resonance peaks in its power spectrum, whereas for a piece of wood, for example, these peaks merge into each other to create a continuum.




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