What are harmonics?

The 2016 Flame Challenge asked the world's top scientists to answer a deceptively simple question: What is sound? In response, acoustician Whitney Coyle, who is also a trained musician, demonstrated key aspects of sound--timbre, pitch, harmonics--by playing various notes on a flute.

Original Program Date: June 5, 2016
MODERATOR: Alan Alda
PARTICIPANTS: Whitney Coyle, Eddie Goldstein, Laura Kloepper

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[supremex]

That didn't really answer it for me. Cool though

[ahmadalghooneh]

This is the best intuitive tutorial I have ever seen, uh my god, and I have seen a lot of them! Thank you thank you

[triplefvr]

OMG 2 minutes to know everything you need to understand music!!! You opened my mind with this!! Thank you so much for this video! I wish I could had watched the whole video.

[klaus-udokloppstedt]

Video has wrong title. no explanation WHAT harmonics are.

[ucasvb]

Harmonics are integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. Overtones are (usually rational) multiples of a fundamental frequency. Harmonics are overtones, but overtones are not harmonics.

This sort of stuff is much better visualized with a spectrogram.

[sallauddin]

I am at 5th week and the harmonics were introduced at the 1st week in college, I was confused until this video. Thank you so much.

[SNG]

Not here to understand harmonics in music but how harmonics work in submarine screws and why submarines have an odd number of screws so they do not have a harmonic signature. This helped.

[darionbuck]

Apply this to vision too. We're only seeing/ hearing one thing, and that is the result of many other factors we are not perceiving. Pretty crazy to think. What are we not seeing?

[Slimegodtc]

No i want to know what a guitar sounds so good to me in harmonics

[thomascruz]

Are these harmonics the same as the ones studied in electric engineering?

[Jesse_infiniti]

So why does c and e have "same harmonics" bc of frequency played and registered and impression

[dharshandm]

Are the other frequencies a factor of time ? Like does the base note sound first and the rest comes after?

[sorelsuareztube]

Was that Close encounters of the third kind?

[boobtubel]

Someone pls link me the whole clip.... Pls

[praveen]

As she said it's cool to play at a party but doesn't explain properly. The sitting guy just ruined it by already knowing something

[devinmccloud]

Nikola Tesla: 11.78 hz (Earth) 3.69, 36.9, and 369. Is the secret to the universe 434?

[sssuperstacy]

Thankfully he was there to explain succinctly that which she couldn't

[gonusood]

Didn't understand what harmonics are. But did no one notice her "blowing harder and harder"?

[humbledbjesus]

the way she talks to the audience makes me wonder if they are all 5yr olds...

how about talk like a normal adult and leave the immature banter out...

[jawadulkarim]

That is cool (in terms of her body) I wanna have her social media ID.