Why is an Acoustic Guitar so much LOUDER than an Electric Guitar?

[The Observer]

Hey Cloxxki

It's good to hear that I am not the only one asking this question.

However, the explanation you recite is lacking a bit.
I realize you are summarizing and may have not got the other person's explanation right.
Never the less, I must address what you said so there is not confusion in the ranks.

You say there are "more and longer audible waves".

   More waves... Yes I suppose since the acoustic cavity's waves
       add constructivly to the strings waves.. however more waves do not appear.
      Only waves of higher amplitude at the same frequency appear to the outside observer.

   Longer audible waves... You must mean waves of higher amplitude.
        Longer waves means a different sound with lower pitch.
        Higher waves mean a louder sound of the same pitch.

   And... as most don't seem to get....
         Higher waves mean more energy from the source.
.
As far as an electric guitar's stings energy going to "other transitions and frequencies"...
     That's pretty vague..
     The string is vibrating at it's natural frequency(s).
     It cannot vibrate at other frequencies unless you change the tension, length or mass.
     Other transitions? Come on... that is gibberish.

The real crux of the matter is Resonance/Forced Resonance..

There should be a Forum Section on Resonance, because Resonating objects exhibit free energy characteristics !
If the section exists and I didn't see it , my apologies. ;o)

Have a great day,

The Observer

[Cloxxki]

Wow, you go in-depth on my "trying to be vague" summary :-)

To me, an acoustic guitar seems to produce sound for a longer time. The louder aspect makes the sound be more easily audible over a longer distance, I suppose.
It comes down to this: with an acountic guitar, you get lots of resonant sound, with the electric guitar, human senses are less specialized to notice what the string's energy was transformed into.

You can argue with me further, but I'll just end up stating that you are probably right, I am not a specialized, just meant to echo what I'd just read, and what I had accepted as most plausible. If an acoustic guitar we OU, the military would have found ways to shoot bullets with it, or split atoms.

[The Observer]

Hey Cloxx,

Thanks for your response.

I'm not trying to be rude.

I think I come across that way though... because of my passion about this subject.
For that I apologize. ;o)

What I really want is for people here to see forced resonant systems as I do.

That is...

             Step 1.          Realize a resonant system STORES energy.
             Step 2.          Realize a resonant system can emanate energy.
             Step 3.          Realize the energy emanated has to do with the energy stored.

Easy as that... Free Energy... no way around it.

The simplest example I can think of is a Swing.

         Take the power of 1 finger at the correct frequency (the swing's natural Frequency).

         Start pushing the swing...
                at first not too much action... not very much wind produced.
                        then as the swing absorbs the energy from the finger,
                             the swing swings higher.
                                  More action... more wind.
                                      this goes on until the the swing's max energy stored is reached.
           
               THEN...
                             Each small push produces a lot of action and a lot of wind.

Anyone get it? (there I go acting rude again) ;o/

Sorry.

Hope everyone is having a great day,
                                                      The Observer

[swimmingcat]

Acoustic guitars are more efficient.

Assuming that both the electric and acoustic guitars are strummed with the same amount of energy then in the case of the electric guitar the sound waves are absorbed by the air in the room. In the case the acoustic guitar the sound waves are gathered and reflected out of the hole in the resonant chamber of the guitar body. Sound waves that, in the case of the electric guitar are sent out in all directions are are gathered redirected in mostly one direction (out the hole) by the resonant body.

If you took the same amount of energy used to strum (measured in joules) and say used it to drive a loud speaker you would get a similar level of sound.

Its not so much that the guitar amplifies the sound as it is that the sounds out of an electric guitar are dispersed in all directions so that a person sitting some distance from the guitar hears a faint sound. The acoustic guitar directs the sound waves in one direction. Sound that would have traveled behind the musician, for example, is redirected by the resonant body to emanate from the front of the musician along with the sound waves that also emanate forwards.

So by redirecting all the sound waves in one direction the listener hears louder music. Also bear in mind the the human ear is non-linear. Sound meters use the decibel scale which is logarithmic. If you double the sound energy the human ear does not perceive twice the sound volume.

It is much like a using a magnifying glass in the sun. By gathering the light received by the total surface area of the glass and focusing it on a tiny pinpoint you can get a hot spot that will ignite paper (implying 600F or higher). Take away the magnifying glass and the paper will not catch fire. The magnifying glass merely concentrates the energy. It does not amplify it.

[Tink]

Acoustic guitars are more efficient.

Assuming that both the electric and acoustic guitars are strummed with the same amount of energy then in the case of the electric guitar the sound waves are absorbed by the air in the room. In the case the acoustic guitar the sound waves are gathered and reflected out of the hole in the resonant chamber of the guitar body. Sound waves that, in the case of the electric guitar are sent out in all directions are are gathered redirected in mostly one direction (out the hole) by the resonant body.

If you took the same amount of energy used to strum (measured in joules) and say used it to drive a loud speaker you would get a similar level of sound.

Its not so much that the guitar amplifies the sound as it is that the sounds out of an electric guitar are dispersed in all directions so that a person sitting some distance from the guitar hears a faint sound. The acoustic guitar directs the sound waves in one direction. Sound that would have traveled behind the musician, for example, is redirected by the resonant body to emanate from the front of the musician along with the sound waves that also emanate forwards.

So by redirecting all the sound waves in one direction the listener hears louder music. Also bear in mind the the human ear is non-linear. Sound meters use the decibel scale which is logarithmic. If you double the sound energy the human ear does not perceive twice the sound volume.

It is much like a using a magnifying glass in the sun. By gathering the light received by the total surface area of the glass and focusing it on a tiny pinpoint you can get a hot spot that will ignite paper (implying 600F or higher). Take away the magnifying glass and the paper will not catch fire. The magnifying glass merely concentrates the energy. It does not amplify it.

Mmmm, I don't think so.

I think an acoustic guitar does indeed make the string sound much stronger.
When I think of an acoustic guitar I can't help but think of the "his masters voice" wind up recordplayers with the big horn on top to amplify the very weak sound of the needle.
If the horn was only directing the sound in one direction then it could hardly be heard when not directly in front of the horn, but for some reason it is now very well heard all over the room.
Where does the extra power come from?
Back in the seventies there were drawings for exciter loudspeakers in Elector (a magazine), it was just a normal two way loudspeaker box with a tweeter and a midrange speaker.
The exciter itself was a clever fold up horn made up of all sizes of plates inside with a hornlike opening on the front.
These plates made a horn like room inside the box so it was in fact a horn.
Nice thing was that it adds Decibels to the midrange speaker so you got more "Watts" out then you put in (this was handy for people who could not afford a powerful end amplifier but still wanted a lot of power out of their speakers).

So all in all, there is much more to acoustic amplification then meets the eye, and the magnifying glass example does not work in my opinion.