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?
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Air doesn’t “know” frequencies. Frequencies are how we analyze vibrations. It is a human construct – air simply changes in pressure from point to point and that pressure is transmitted. For our human interpretation both in the experience of listening and for technical analysis, we break it down into different frequencies, loudness etc.
How we distinguish a violin from a cymbal is due to our brains. Everything about how we perceive our environment is constructed by our brains.
For example, sugar doesn’t “know” it is sweet. When we mix ingredients to cook food, the food doesn’t know what it tastes like. Our brains break it down (due to the way our organs work) into concepts of sweet, salty etc and finally make a decision (based on a learned response) whether “this is beef steak” or “this is chicken soup”.
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