TexNET > Exhibits > Sound > Pipes of Pan ..

Pipes of Pan demonstrates how tubes of varying length act to select and amplify sound waves of different frequencies. Ten glass tubes of different lengths filter out specific tones from the ambient noise in a room. Each pipe is resonant at a certain frequency, which is determined by its length. By listening to each pipe in turn, from longer to shorter, a strange progression of low- to high-pitched tones are audible.