Rayleigh′s Acoustical Research on the Fog Signal

  • Published : 2004.09.01

Abstract

In 1896, Rayleigh was appointed as Scientific Advisor of the Trinity House. Rayleigh applied his knowledge of sound to developing effective fog signals during his IS-year tenure at the maritime organization. Rayleigh's expertise on acoustics met an appropriate field for its application during his improvement of the fog signal for the institution. Rayleigh's activities at the Trinity House were motivated by his desire to make contribution to the public. During his research on the fog signal, Rayleigh effectively employed his expertise acquired through his mathematical and experimental research on sound and vibration since the 1860s. Rayleigh developed effective horns for emitting fog signals and proposed various ways of overcoming the weaknesses of sound signals available at that time. While attempting to solve the problem of the attenuation of sound signals disseminating through the air, Rayleigh put foundations of atmospheric acoustics by developing new scientific theories about it.

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References

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