What the book is about
Rayleigh's two volumes turned acoustics into a unified mathematical science. Starting from simple vibrating systems, he worked through strings, bars, membranes, plates and resonators, then the propagation, reflection and scattering of sound waves in air.
It remains one of the most cited works in physics. Many methods introduced or refined here – energy methods for estimating natural frequencies, the treatment of resonators and of scattering by small obstacles – are still taught to engineers and physicists today.
Key ideas
- Normal modes of vibration
- Strings, bars, membranes and plates
- Resonators and end corrections
- Scattering of sound
- Energy (Rayleigh) methods
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Second, revised edition 1894–1896.