SCIENCE COOKIES
Science articles with chocolate chips
How do vinyl records work?
Published: 6/10/2020
Author: Paulina Vargas
It is common that surrounded by so much technology today, we focus our curiosity on the newest advances and question the unknown, but it is just as interesting to go back a bit to appreciate those technologies that we usually normalize and that we simply let go unnoticed. That is why I will talk about an object that everyone knows but few know how it works: vinyl records.
In simple words, the sound produced by a vinyl record is due to the conversion of mechanical movement into electrical signals.
The process begins even before the needle is dropped on the record, as these are produced in a very careful way, because their proper operation depends on microscopic grooves that at first glance appear to be the same, but have some irregularities in depth and width that cause the sound to be interpreted in the desired way; they are like a representation on a very small scale of the waves emitted by the sounds of the songs, a slight error in the patterns of a disc would cause the melody to be drastically distorted, with only a few nanometers of difference.
Image Credit: Ben Krasnow, Applied Science.
The turntable needle travels through the path of the grooves and captures their irregularities, the movement causes two magnets and two coils located on the sides of the needle to generate electrical signals, this area is called a phonocaptor capsule.
Then, the turntable processes the signals previously stored in the capsule and transforms them into separate stereo signals to be able to amplify them and output the sound through headphones or speakers.
Vargas P. for Science Cookies.
There are also several aspects to consider to achieve an ideal reproduction of the record, such as the shape of the needle, the material with which it is made and the angle at which it is positioned. Without a doubt when it comes to convenience and practicality, vinyl records do not rank first, but it is an invention that until more than 100 years after its creation remains astonishing.
References
https://www.neoteo.com/como-funciona-un-tocadiscos/
https://www.xatakaciencia.com/tecnologia/contempla-a-tamano-visible-como-funciona-un-disco-de-vinilo
Advertising
Advertising