sympathetic vibration

Sympathetic vibration

The driving of a mechanical or acoustical system at its resonant frequency by energy from an adjacent system vibrating at this same frequency. Examples include the vibration of wall panels by sounds issuing from a loudspeaker, vibration of machinery components at specific frequencies as the speed of a motor increases, and the use of tuned air resonators under the bars of a xylophone to enhance the acoustic output. Increasing the damping of a vibrating system will decrease the amplitude of its sympathetic vibration but at the same time widen the band of frequencies over which it will partake of sympathetic vibration. See Resonance (acoustics and mechanics), Vibration

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Physics. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

sympathetic vibration

[‚sim·pə′thed·ik vī′brā·shən]

(physics)

The driving of a mechanical or acoustical system at its resonant frequency by energy from an adjacent system vibrating at the same frequency.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.