# Simple Acoustic/music question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 21, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957 "2000-03-21T22:19:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/1 "2000-03-21T22:19:00Z")

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Can someone tell me (definitively) what the wavelength for Middle C at room temperature is, or give me a decent link? I thought I read somewhere that it was ~1.3m.

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/2 "2000-03-21T22:43:00Z")

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Middle C, being equal to 261.63 Hz @ 20°C works out to 4.319076558499 feet per cycle, or 1.31647746818 meters.

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**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/3 "2000-03-21T22:45:00Z")

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Use the following formula:

velocity=frequency x wavelength

or

1129ft/sec = 523.2cps x wavelength in feet.

by my math that gives a wavelength of 2.15 feet.

These figures assume a temp. of 68 degrees fahrenheit and dry air at sea level.

I don’t remember my metric conversions offhand, but hopefully you can take it from there.

🙂

(sorry about the english units–it’s all I know)

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**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/4 "2000-03-21T22:47:00Z")

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hmmm… conflicting simulposts!

Opus–which one of us picked the wrong C?

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**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/5 "2000-03-21T22:51:00Z")

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doh! wrong octave. That’s what I get for answering on no sleep. Go with Opus’s numbers! (humbly retreats…)

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/6 "2000-03-21T22:52:00Z")

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[![](https://legacy.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/306/piano.freq.gif) ](https://legacy.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/306/piano.freq.gif)

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-acoustic-music-question/8957/7 "2000-03-21T22:56:00Z")

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Wow I really stretched the hell out of this thread…