If a closely coiled heavy wire is suspended as in Figure 173 and the weight is drawn down and then released, the coil will assume the appearance shown; there is clearly an overcrowding or condensation in some places, and a spreading out or rarefaction in other places.  The pulse of condensation and rarefaction which travels the length of the wire is called a wave, although it bears little or no resemblance to the familiar water wave.  Sound waves are similar to the waves formed in the stretched coil.

[Illustration:  FIG. 173.—­Waves in a coiled wire.]

Sound waves may be said to consist of a series of condensations and rarefactions, and the distance between two consecutive condensations and rarefactions may be defined as the wave length.

257.  How One Sounding Body produces Sound in Another Body.  In Section 255 we saw that any object when disturbed vibrates in a manner peculiar to itself,—­its natural period,—­a long-roped hammock vibrating slowly and a short-roped hammock vibrating rapidly.  From observation we learn that it requires but little force to cause a body to vibrate in its natural period.  If a sounding body is near a body which has the same period as itself, the pulses of air produced by the sounding body will, although very small, set the second body into motion and cause it to make a faint sound.  When a piano is being played, we are often startled to find that a window pane or an ornament responds to some note of the piano.  If two tuning forks of exactly identical periods (that is, of the same frequency) are placed on a table as in Figure 174, and one is struck so as to give forth a clear sound, the second fork will likewise vibrate, even though the two forks may be separated by several feet of air.  We can readily see that the second fork is in motion, although it has not been struck, because it will set in motion a pith ball suspended beside it; at first the pith ball does not move, then it moves slightly, and finally bounces rapidly back and forth.  If the periods of the two forks are not identical, but differ in the slightest degree, the second fork will not respond to the first fork, no matter how long or how loud the sound of the first fork.  If we suppose that the fork vibrates 256 times each second, then 256 gentle pulses of air are produced each second, and these, traveling outward through the air, reach the silent fork and tend to set it in motion.  A single pulse of air could not move the solid, heavy prongs, but the accumulated action of 256 vibrations per second soon makes itself felt, and the second fork begins to vibrate, at first gently, then gradually stronger, and finally an audible tone is given forth.

[Illustration:  FIG. 174.—­When the first fork vibrates, the second responds.]