Which of these frequencies is resonant with that of an ideal "256 Hz" tuning fork?

"512 Hz", "400 Hz", "441 Hz", "300 Hz"

1 Answer
Aug 14, 2017

Resonant frequencies are frequencies that coincide with the natural emitted frequency. I would have actually said "512 Hz", as the first harmonic in a tuning fork relative to a "256 Hz" fundamental has a frequency of "512 Hz".


Most pure waveforms (square, saw, triangle, etc), except sine waves, are a linear combination of the fundamental, and the nth harmonics, n = 1, 2, 3, . . . .

Thus, each successive harmonic is quieter than the previous, but all of them are present to some extent.

The nth harmonic in "Hz" is found as

f_"fund" xx 2^n

where f_"fund" is the fundamental frequency.

So, for example, a sine wave plays f_"fund" = "261.6 Hz" on middle C. The 1st harmonic is thus at

"261.6 Hz" xx 2^1 = "523.2 Hz"

and so on by doubling the frequency of each successive harmonic.

So, the tuning fork would be primarily composed of a slightly flat middle C, and smaller contributions from higher octaves. But if one could filter out the fundamental, e.g. with a band notch filter, a frequency of "512 Hz" would resonate with a slightly flat C an octave above middle C.