Topmusicanswers
A tuning fork serves as a useful illustration of how a vibrating object can produce sound. The fork consists of a handle and two tines. When the tuning fork is hit with a rubber hammer, the tines begin to vibrate. The back and forth vibration of the tines produce disturbances of surrounding air molecules.
What kind of wave does a tuning fork create?
We know that in a transverse wave, the particles of the medium move perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave. Therefore, the wave produced in the stem of the tuning fork is the transverse wave.
How a tuning fork can produce longitudinal waves?
We can make longitudinal waves by making things vibrate very quickly. Tuning forks produce a single note, or a specific sound, when struck by making the arms move in and out very rapidly (hundreds or thousands of times a second).
