Klarinet Archive - Posting 000169.txt from 1996/10

From: Ian M Dilley <imd@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: CO2 influencing pitch
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 15:28:48 -0400

I don't think this is true. Surely its the speed of sound in the column of
gas inside the clarinet and probably inside the player that is relevant
here not the gas through which it travels to your ears. If you breathe in
helium and then speak your voice is higher pitched. You don't have to fill
the entire room with helium to get the effect.

> Secondly, even if sound travels faster or slower in CO2 than in
N2,
>it is completely irrelevant because we are not LISTENING to that sound
>travelling through CO2: we are listening to it travelling through AIR
>(N2). So, unless you are a volcano and the amount of air you blow through
>your instrument can drastically affect the air composition in the room
>around you, IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!