mckulty t1_j6znp7k wrote on February 3, 2023 at 12:40 AM

Reply to comment by Otherwise-Way-1176 in Do photons of different wavelengths combine to make complex wave forms? by Max-Phallus

> What does this mean? The sound that we hear from an oboe or a flute consists of multiple frequencies added together.

Yes, we call them harmonics, and they are the basis for octaves resulting from dividing a string into two (880hz A) or three (1320hz E) or four (1760hz A) etc parts.

So the harmonics are always higher frequency than the principal pitch, and and the first harmonic is always twice the value of the principal, eg middle C to C above middle C.

But visible light doesn't allow even the first harmonic, because 400 nm to 800 nm would make the first harmonic infrared.

So if you COULD modulate a radio wave with harmonics, which you can't, it won't create any new colors or visible whizbang.

Otherwise-Way-1176 t1_j70a0qc wrote on February 3, 2023 at 3:31 AM

I understand what harmonics are. I couldn’t figure out what point you were making.

But the original question was about radio waves, which are not visible light.

So I still don’t understand why you’re making the argument that it’s impossible to have a photon at one frequency and then another photon at 2x that frequency, just because they wouldn’t both be in the range our eyes can see.