pancelticpiper wrote:
I had never heard of "backpressure" regarding whistles until I joined this site.
I never heard it used for any instrument,it was a descriptive sounding term I somehow ended up using. Maybe many others have also come to use this term on their own. Interestingly the term in common usage as relates to gas/water/etc pipes is ALSO incorrect-see Wiki's definition below.
==== "Back pressure (or backpressure) is a resistance or force opposing the desired flow of fluid through pipes, leading to friction loss and pressure drop. The term back pressure is a misnomer, as pressure is a scalar quantity, so it has a magnitude but no direction. The fluid is what is directed, tending to flow away from high-pressure regions and toward low-pressure regions. If the low-pressure space is more high-pressure than intended (e.g. due to obstructions or tight bends in an exhaust pipe) or the high-pressure space is more low-pressure than intended, this opposes the desired flow and reduces the discharge. Similarly, bending or other operations on a pipe (such as a stock car exhaust system with a particularly high number of twists and bends[1]) can reduce flow rate. "====
So it appears everybody is incorrect using this term including the folks working on pipes-the non-musical pipes.Consequently the objections some have to using this term in relation to resistance in whistles....well,if we understand what someone means by it what's the problem? It's just another word/term from one field adapted in meaning to mean something else in a particular field.
Yeah,it may not be the most accurate use of the language,but how many here use the idiotic term "same difference" to mean "same thing"? Or refer to a cotter key as a cotter pin?
There are words/terms used in Chinese martial systems which while related to the actual meaning of the words/terms do not truly match what the words means in the language. The meanings have been somewhat altered for technical description/usage in the systems. Nobody in those circles worries about it,even though an individual not familiar with these slightly altered meanings could find them somewhat confusing until explained.
"Backpressure" seems to be a fairly common term with whistlers,so even though "resistance" would make more sense and be accurate....again,if I know what you mean on the job when you say "cotter pin"..... What's it matter if we're adopting a term from somewhere else and twisting it a bit to mean something within a different field. I should say "resistance" but I'll continue to use "backpressure".Unless the entire world gangs up on me about it.
Nah,I'll use it anyway!