Mechanical resonance Mechanical resonance Mechanical resonance is the tendency of a mechanical system to respond at greater amplitude when the frequency of its oscillations matches the system's natural frequency of vibration (its "resonance frequency" or "resonant frequency") than it does at other frequencies. It may cause violent swaying motions and even catastrophic failure in improperly constructed structures including bridges, buildings and airplanes. This is a phenomenon known as resonance disaster. Avoiding resonance disasters is a major concern in every building, tower and bridge construction project. The Taipei 101 building relies on a 660-ton pendulum—a tuned mass damper—to modify the response at resonance.
Attenuation distortion Attenuation distortion Attenuation distortion is the distortion of an analog signal that occurs during transmission when the transmission medium does not have a flat frequency response across the bandwidth of the medium or the frequency spectrum of the signal. Attenuation distortion occurs when some frequencies are attenuated more than other frequencies. When an analog signal of constant amplitude across its frequency spectrum suffers attenuation distortion, some frequencies of the received signal arrive being greater in amplitude (louder), relative to other frequencies. To overcome the effects of attenuation distortion, communications circuits have special equalization equipment attached at the ends of the