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By Jonsig Eirik
Shortly after WW2, Highway 401 was built through the Fraser
Valley farming belt. A farmer close beside the highway decided to
have an implement shed built, using 8x8x16 concrete blocks,
ideal for the building which was about 32 feet long with the ends
about 20 feet; the front facing the highway was open, to be a
series of sliding doors.
First visualize the setting; the 2 west lanes of 401 were not over a
hundred feet from the opening of the building. A semi would pull
out and pass another of a similar make; normal traffic, except
when one passed a situation might be created.
Let’s say for example the trucks were the same make; if they
were both going 60 MPH the diesels theoretically would be
running at the same speed where the sound of their exhaust
would be identical, say 50 hertz per second.
Then the truck following pulls out to pass; the frequency of his
exhaust will increase to, say 53-hertz/sec. Now we have a
phenomenon that’s a fundamental component of any two
frequencies; the difference and the sum of the two. Using the
hypothetical muffler sounds of 50 and 53, we would have 3 hertz
and 103 hertz.
The 103 would do no harm to the building, but the 3-hertz could
start that wall rocking, or it could create a standing wave where a
reflected sound meets one coming in which it can create enough
pressure to break the ‘barely curing’ mortar bond and topple the
whole wall.
Jonsig Eirik.