Alright, let me walk you through what I actually did yesterday. Seriously got curious about energy and frequency after hearing someone yell at their microwave for not “energizing their food enough.” Started digging, figured I’d test some common ideas myself. Garbage science skills, but hey, why not?
Getting My Mess Together
First off, I knew I needed sound and light – the usual suspects folks link with frequency. Grabbed my phone (obviously) for some sound apps, then found this old electronic keyboard buried in the closet – dusty but worked. For light, it was just a regular flashlight and a cheap laser pointer my kid uses to annoy the cat. Found a long piece of rope the kid used for tug-of-war too. Didn’t plan it, just grabbed whatever seemed useful.
What Went Down
- The Rope Wiggle Test: Tied one end of the rope to a doorknob. Started shaking the free end super slow, just a gentle wave. Barely felt any effort. Then went nuts shaking it side-to-side as fast as my wrist could handle – think hummingbird on caffeine. Felt my muscles working WAY harder to make those fast, tiny waves compared to the slow, lazy ones. First clue: Higher frequency waves required more effort from me. Effort = energy? Made me think.
- Sound Check Duel: Fired up the phone app. Played a deep bass hum, could barely hear it a few steps away. Then cranked a crazy high-pitched screech the app could make – made everyone wince instantly. Needed the exact same volume setting on the app for both. Weird thing? That high screech died out super quick – distance tanked real fast. The low hum? Could hear it rumbling much farther down the hall. Seemed like the high-frequency sound lost its oomph quicker. Maybe didn’t carry the same punch per wave?
- Light Battle: Pitch black room time. Shone the normal flashlight on the wall, looked bright and fine. Pulled out the cheap red laser pointer – tiny little dot, super focused. They didn’t look the same brightness at all, obviously. Then it hit me: color is tied to frequency. The laser pointer was putting out a much higher frequency red light than, say, a blue light would be even higher frequency. But my flashlight blastin’ white light? That white light contains all those colors mixed together! Higher frequencies are part of the mix, but they don’t automatically make the whole light beam “stronger.” The laser felt intense but only at a tiny spot.
- Keyboard Hassle: Messed with the old keyboard. Smashed the highest key I could find repeatedly. Tiny, frantic sound coming out. Then I held down one of the really low bass keys. That thing needed my finger pushing down hard and long to get that deep rumble going – actually felt the speaker or whatever inside vibrating strong. The high key? Tappy-tap, almost no weight behind it. Generating that low note seemed to physically require more juice from the keyboard itself.
- Microwave Muscle (Theory, Didn’t Fry Things): Okay, didn’t stick metal in or anything. But checked the microwave – that “High” power setting? It doesn’t crank the frequency up. Microwave frequency is fixed. That “High” setting just keeps the magnetron pumping out waves for longer bursts or more constantly. The actual wave frequency bouncing around inside doesn’t change. More waves hitting the food, even if each wave is the same frequency, adds up to more heat energy delivered. Pretty much disproves the “higher frequency = super-powered food” idea my neighbor yelled about.
What Actually Came Out
After all that wiggling and beeping and blinding myself:
- Making high-frequency waves absolutely takes more energy input from me or the device to create them quickly.
- But just being a high-frequency wave doesn’t guarantee it carries more punch itself than a lower frequency one – look at sound dying fast or light needing extra things. It depends on other stuff too.
- A bunch of waves hitting something – even lower frequency ones – adds up. More waves often mean more energy delivered than just relying on the waves being fast. Microwave setting matters.
- Don’t mix up the effort it takes to make a fast wave with the energy the wave itself might have. They’re kinda related, but different beasts.
- Seriously, forget “higher frequency = stronger/more energy” as a rule. It’s messy. The way that energy shows up depends a ton on what the wave actually is and what it’s doing.
Felt smart for about five damn seconds after piecing that together. Then remembered the rope was still tied to the doorknob and the kid needed it back. So much for high-frequency intelligence lasting long!
