"George Dishman" wrote in message ...
"sean" wrote in message om...

Hi Sean,

Take a very long taut wire and send two bursts of a wave
of the same frequency travelling in opposite directions
from the ends towards the cent

--\/\/\/\/\/\/\----------------------/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/---
--- ---

When they meet in the middle, they will create a standing
wave pattern of while they overlap (it's twice the height
but I can't show that) and pass through each other

-----------------\/\/\/\/\/\/\------------------------

after that they just separate though

--\/\/\/\/\/\/\----------------------/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/---
--- ---

The interference pattern in the middle is a wave phenomenon
but it is not resonance.

Now put a clamp on the wire to stop it moving at each end
of a section

------------------------------------------------------
^ ^

If you tap one end of the wire, it will vibrate. If you tap
in sync with the vibration, each tap adds a little energy
and the amplitude builds up. This is a resonant system. The
obvious example is a violin.
Another form of a resonant system is something I have used for many
years is where you touch a string lightly and pluck it at the same
time . If the string is secured at both ends the string will vibrate
at two different but related wavelengths like 1/2 or 1/3 2/3 and a
`harmonic ` is produced. I use this method to tighten guitar strings
accurately by tuning one string to the equivelent harmonic of another
.. Or if you hum at a steady note into a instrument cavity like a
guitar or violin or even piano at certain notes the cavity will
resonate and amplify and sustain ones voice as the strings and cavity
`resonate`. Similarly as you alluded to earlier if one places a
tuning fork onto an instrument or near a loud enough pure note of same
frequency or a harmonic of the tuning forks frequency it will begin to
vibrate `sympathetically`. And check out the whispering gallery at St
Pauls in London. That aural illusion is I would say a building`s
interior `exhibiting` resonance.


Now think of two mirrors, or a pice of wave guide with the
ends closed off. You can inject light and get a laser or
inject RF and get a standing wave as Aleksandr said. These
are also resonant but they are called "resonant cavities"
because it is the act of closing off the ends that creates
the resonance.

and store energy and be measured in the same terms of frequencies
oscillations as objects. These phenomena are also essentially
identical to what would be termed a wave only atom or `particle` .
They are stationary and point like

They are stationary but cannot be point-like because the
length of the cavity must be an integer multiple of half
the wavelength.

but are not objects like pendulums
or particles but superimpositions of many waves on a point source.So
it seems to me that for david to say only particles can explain
resonance is incorrect and wave only models seen classically as
standing wave s are also resonant systems

Superimposition and standing waves are not of themselves
resonant. What creates the resonance is the cavity that
contains them, it is the cavity that is described as
resonant and the waves are merely the form of energy that
it stores.
You sound confused here and I think you are trying to somehow say that
the medium within the container doesnt resonate and that therefore I
am wrong and yet you have to admit that yes the medium does resonate
because you know it does. Its a tricky situation you and David are in
although I think you actually understand resonance and David doesnt.
Take a vibrating plate of sand and watch the nodes scattered about
surface . They are raised humps of sand each in static position and
each hump or node is centerd about 1 point on the plate yet each node
is not a distinct object with a distinct edge. Furthermore you can
even manipulate these nodes and move them by touching the plate with
your finger.These nodes ARE the equivelent of what I call wave only
atoms in a medium. Furthermore these nodes are what you call the
exhibition of resonance. Yet each node is not an object but a standing
wave focused at a point like location in space. The medium in which
these nodes appear is not one object but can consist of air, gas,
water sand etc.
It isnt then the cavity that resonates but the medium within the
cavity that resonates
What I find amusing is I can tell from your posts that you know that a
constrained medium CAN resonate in the same way as a constrained
object like a string can resonate. Yet you realize that by admitting
this truism you have to admit that David is wrong in saying that only
an object or single particle can resonate and the uncomfortable truth
you face is to admit that a concept of a wave only atom as a point
like node of superimposed waves in a medium like an aether has
observable analogies in everyday life.
Tell me George, is it the container only that resonates or is it the
medium within the container and the container that resonates?
Is it just the string that resonates? Is it just the string and the
violin that resonate? Or is it the string, the violin AND the air
within the body of the violin that resonates? If you say no to this
last example then you are wrong as it is possible to muffle and
completely change the resonance or sound of a stringed instrument by
stuffing a rag into the interior of it to prevent the medium of air
within the container from resonating. The string still resonates and
the wood to a lesser degree but the air doesnt. And because the air
doesnt resonate their are less sympathetic resonations in the wood
casing of the instrument. If you ever get the opportunity, try this
experiment with a stringed instrument. I have.
In other words David is completely wrong in saying that a single
particle or object vibrating is the only manifestation of resonance.
Far from it . A medium can also resonate and within that medium
observation tells us that there are nodal points where the amplitude
is greater and these are comparable to...wave only atoms .
Sean