A flutist rehearses with a pianist. When the flute and piano play middle‐C simultaneously, the flutist hears prominent beats that occur six times every second. She then slowly pulls the flute’s head-joint outward, effectively lowering the flute’s pitch, and notices that the beat rate gradually falls to two beats per second.
Answer the following questions about this scenario.
(a) Describe qualitatively what the beat rate reveals about the relationship between the flute’s frequency and the piano’s frequency.
(b) Explain why the beat frequency decreases as the flutist pulls the head-joint outward.
(c) Given that the beat rate becomes slower when the flute’s frequency is lowered, deduce whether the flute was initially playing at a higher frequency or a lower frequency than the piano. Justify your reasoning.