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Q.Explain with principle that sound produced by an open organ pipe is more musical than sound produced by a closed organ pipe.

Bihar BsebBihar Board Intermediate 1st Year 2025Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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An open organ pipe produces both even and odd harmonics, giving it a richer, more musical tone than a closed pipe, which produces only odd harmonics.

Musical quality and harmonics: the pleasantness/musical richness (timbre) of a sound depends on how many overtones (harmonics) are present along with the fundamental note, and how they combine — a sound with more harmonics present sounds richer and more musical than one with fewer.

Closed organ pipe (closed at one end, open at the other): only odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency can be produced, since the closed end must always be a displacement node and the open end a displacement antinode. The allowed frequencies are:

f,3f,5f,7f,…(f=v4L)f, 3f, 5f, 7f, \dots \quad\left(f = \dfrac{v}{4L}\right)

Open organ pipe (open at both ends): both even and odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency can be produced, since both ends must be displacement antinodes, a condition satisfied by twice as many possible standing-wave patterns. The allowed frequencies are:

f′,2f′,3f′,4f′,…(f′=v2L)f', 2f', 3f', 4f', \dots \quad\left(f' = \dfrac{v}{2L}\right)

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