Which substance did the phonautograph use to record the fluctuating lines of sound waves?
Answer
Soot from an oil lamp
The phonautograph relied on a stylus to trace vibrations onto a medium such as paper or glass that had been coated with a layer of soot. When the sound caused the diaphragm to vibrate, the stylus moved across this dark, fine-powdered coating, removing small amounts of soot to leave behind a visual imprint of the sound wave pattern. This fragile method allowed for the physical capture of sound energy for the first time.
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