Weekend Reading 09/05/2008

[jtkinney]

I learned something new the other day (big surprise there). Books written before 1923 are public domain, and Google has a program to scan these books, in partnership with libraries around the country. These books are accessible on Google Books. I found many sound, physics and acoustics titles including "Theory of Sound" by Baron (later Lord) Rayleigh. Here are the links to both volumes. Sorry I don't know how to embed them and am at the limit of learning new things this week.

http://books.google.com/books?id=fj0DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA2&dq=intitle:theory+intitle:of+intitle:sound&lr=lang_en&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1

http://books.google.com/books?id=wd8EAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:theory+intitle:of+intitle:sound&lr=lang_en&as_brr=1

If you do an advanced search in Google Books looking for "Full View" books published before 1923 there are lots of interesting titles.

Stay dry and enjoy.

[WMcD]

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your reseach efforts.

Old books are difficult to find at libraries open to the public.

BTW, years ago I was trying to find a copy of Acoustical Engineering by Olson in the Chicago area. DePaul U. was supposed to have it but the librarians said it was not on the shelf. My guess was that someone had had stolen it.

I eventually I was looking for something else at IIT and found it there. The book had a stamp saying it was property of DePaul.

Now I've had some luck with interlibrary loans.

Best,

Wm Gil McD

[jtkinney]

Gil,

That is the way I find most things, when I'm looking for something else. Part of my job is acoustics, not listening in hi-fi, but bombarding spacecraft and launch vehicles with it to ensure they survive launch. This gives me time every once in a while to do a little research for this hobby. If you come across a reference that you can't find in your area, drop me a line, I may be able to find it at one of the NASA center's libraries.

Regards,

[boom3]

In professional writing, I have had good luck with Alibris or Abebooks. I have also found a number of books and pamphlets on e-bay. Soimetimes colleges and big-city librraies have book sales as they are clearing out stock, and many interesting books can be found for a quarter or so.

jtkinney,

many years ago when the Mercury program was on I saw a pic of a suited astronaut in a couch (space craft couch) near an array of straight metal horns. The caption was something to the effect that they were testing the suit for isolation from take-off noise. This has been 40 plus years ago so I do not remember the mag, but I bet it would either be Life or National Geographic, both of which covered the Mercury and other programs extensively. Just curious if you've seen that pic?

[jtkinney]

Boom3,

I haven't seen that picture, but I checked the NASA report server this morning and found "Acoustic noise reduction methods for preventing noise transmission from space suit to pilot/astronaut helmet", Dec. 1967. This is probably the same test from the pic.

The reverberant chambers that are used to test the satellites other spacecraft (unmanned) that I work on use several large horns, driven by liquid nitrogen in some cases. The overall sound pressure level is in the 130-150 level from 25 to 10K Hz. I don't think a spacesuit will help at those levels.

Regards,

[boom3]

Boom3,

I haven't seen that picture, but I checked the NASA report server this morning and found "Acoustic noise reduction methods for preventing noise transmission from space suit to pilot/astronaut helmet", Dec. 1967. This is probably the same test from the pic.

The reverberant chambers that are used to test the satellites other spacecraft (unmanned) that I work on use several large horns, driven by liquid nitrogen in some cases. The overall sound pressure level is in the 130-150 level from 25 to 10K Hz. I don't think a spacesuit will help at those levels.

Regards,

thanks Jim! Liquid nitrogen drivers! Whoa! Where kin ah git me sum?