May 2008

Stick&slip: how the bow works.

May 30, 2008 15:39

Two weeks ago I partecipated to a meeting of tribology as chemist in Naples and when the chairman knew that I was a violinist he told me: do you know that the bow on the string works? with the stick&slip mechanism I have read this on an american scientific journal..

I looked at him and I told him:

I know that!!

Stick and slip is a process occurring when there are very slow sliding movements when the friction partners are connected to system which can vibrate. In this case lubricants should be used to avoid wear on the components.

It is well described in the specific case of the bow and the violin in Steinhausen's book.

So sometime I think that without friction violin coludn't sound using the bow: fantastic!!!

In this field lubricants would be just detrimental....

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/Bows.html

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