Like for example when I’m listening to an orchestra I can hear a clarinet and a violin quite distinctly from one another, but they’re both sounds vibrating through the same air. Logically, shouldn’t one air only be able to carry one frequency (Vibrate in only one way)? How does the air contain so many frequencies simultaneously?
In: 80
Air vibrating at a certain frequency is a little bit like a signaler waving their sign at you, right? It’s there and getting information to everybody that sees it. However, different sounds don’t actually stop other sounds^(1), and instead it’s like the signaler is getting a different colored splotch on their sign with every additional sound. So the initial patch of color is still visible even when a new one (or a new 20) is added to the sign, and the sign can still be waved at everybody passing, and all 20 patches of color can convey information to everybody that sees it.
Sound frequencies add to each other, and if they are carefully merged then the ‘splotches’ are combined into a ‘picture’ or a harmony. If they are instead added randomly or chaotically, it’s just uninteresting splatters or noise.
Footnote 1: there are technically ways to use noise to cancel other noise, but they usually involve opposite [standing waves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave) and don’t happen without specific instances. A 2nd level comment can feel free to expand on that.
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