In reply to Michael Foster's message of Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:19:21 -0500 (EST): Hi, [snip] > >If there is an acoustic equivalent of the laser, >that would be the simple whistle. Coherent waves >of sound are emitted, capable of many of the same >phenomena as coherent light. Constructive and >destructive interference can be demonstrated, along >with numerous other properties associated with laser >light.
Largely, I think I have to agree with this. Though I think a wind instrument that produces a pure note would be a better example than a whistle, and I'm still not sure where you are going to get the "stimulated emission" from. > >Of course, this doesn't happen at the atomic or >or molecular level, but even so the whistle is >"pumped" by a constant air flow resulting in a >single frequency of sound being emitted. The >whistle itself would be considered to be the "atom". It does have a resonant cavity in common with the laser. [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
