the sound of 40 miles per hour

[asakiyume]

Wakanomori found a battered aluminum tuning fork in the road, not any old tuning fork: a police speed gun radar tuning fork, with 40 m.p.h. stamped on it.

Stationary speed radars work by shooting radio waves out at cars and then noting the frequency at which they bounce back. So this is the sound that equates to the frequency produced by waves traveling back after hitting a vehicle going 40 miles per hour.


It's the tune of a speed.

Movement sings.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[sartorias]

Kind of a sweet ring.

[asakiyume]

Yes! 4o miles per hour is a nice note! I've never used a tuning fork, so one thing that struck me was how *long* the note lingers. It keeps humming in the air for a good while.

[mallorys_camera]

I love this so much!!! 😀

[asakiyume]

I'm so glad--I was entranced by the find, by learning about how speed radar work, by the tone, by the whole EVERYTHING.

[amaebi]

This.

[asakiyume]

Unexpected magics threading through our daily lives.

[amaebi]

And a world of many voices, though used for just one purpose in this case.

[radiantfracture]

What an oddly beautiful thing to know about. Thank you.

[asakiyume]

You are most welcome--it feels like magic, like this is some kind of key to open things. The fact of this note and what it can do feels like a koan. Like somehow, in a way I don't understand, this can make a difference for us. (Now I probably just sound nuts; it's not something I can articulate.)

[threemeninaboat]

That is amazing! I drive a Triumph Spitfire with a broken speedometer and can tell exactly how fast I am going by the engine sound :)

[asakiyume]

NICE!! What a great skill!

[oracne]

SO COOL! D#?

[asakiyume]

Is it? I most definitely do not have perfect pitch, but if you tell me it is, I believe you!

[oracne]

I don't have perfect pitch, though I'm decent - I checked against my tuner app.

[amaebi]

:O

[asakiyume]

^_^

[sovay]

It's the tune of a speed.

That's marvelous.

[asakiyume]

A chime like that feels like it can do so many things (... in addition to signaling 40 mph)

[elusiveat]

That's wild. Thank you for sharing!

[asakiyume]

My pleasure! It was such wild information, so strange--it's the sort of thing you want to amaze over with others.

[minoanmiss]

This is so neat! Thank you once again for bringing us wonders.

[asakiyume]

All my wonders are yours for the having!

[wayfaringwordhack]

What a marvelous find and marvelous thing to know. Oh the story possibilities!

[asakiyume]

Right? Marvelous.

[light_of_summer]

Yay, Physics!

I knew a little about Doppler effect in sound and astronomy, from school, but I don't think I knew its relationship to police radar.

You may already know this, but it looks to me like the tuning fork isn't actually used when the police measure someone's driving speed. It's used to check that the radar unit is correctly calibrated, which is supposed to be done at the start and end of every shift, so there won't be any reasonable doubts about measurement accuracy in related court cases.

Not as poetic, maybe, but certainly of interest!

[asakiyume]

Yes--sorry if I gave the impression that the fork was used to check speed! I was shortening down what I said too much. You tune the radar with the tuning fork and then use the radar to check speed, indeed ^_^

[anna_wing]

A new thing learned today! How fascinating!

[asakiyume]

^_^

So glad!

[lokifan]

Lovely!

[asakiyume]

^_^ Beauty free for the having