Harmonic

Harmonic (pronounced hahr-mon-ik)

(1) In music, pertaining to harmony, as distinguished from melody and rhythm.  A harmonic is a periodic motion, the frequency of which is a whole-number multiple of some fundamental frequency. The motion of objects or substances that vibrate or oscillate in a regular fashion, such as the strings of musical instruments, can be analyzed as a combination of a fundamental frequency and higher harmonics.  Harmonics above the first harmonic (the fundamental frequency) in sound waves are called overtones. The first overtone is the second harmonic, the second overtone is the third harmonic, and so on.

(2) In music, marked by harmony; in harmony; concordant; consonant; pleasant to hear; harmonious; melodious.

(3) In music, the place where, on a bowed string instrument, a note in the harmonic series of a particular string can be played without the fundamental present.

(4) In physics, of, relating to, or noting a series of oscillations in which each oscillation has a frequency that is an integral multiple of the same basic frequency.

(5) In mathematics (1) (of a set of values), related in a manner analogous to the frequencies of tones that are consonant, (2) capable of being represented by sine and cosine functions and (3) (of a function) satisfying the Laplace equation; used to characterize various mathematical entities or relationships supposed to bear some resemblance to musical consonance; the harmonic polar line of an inflection point of a cubic curve is the component of the polar conic other than the tangent line.

(6) In Australianist linguistics, a technical term, of or relating to a generation an even number of generations distant from a particular person.

(7) In phonology, exhibiting or applying constraints on what vowels (eg front/back vowels only) may be found near each other and sometimes in the entire word.

(8) In many contexts, something recurring periodically

(9) In the slang of CB radio, one's child.

1560–1570: From the Latin harmonicus (relating to harmony) from the Ancient Greek ἁρμονικός (harmonikós) (harmonic, musical, skilled in music), from ἁρμονία (harmonía & harmonie).  From the 1660s it acquired the meaning "tuneful, harmonious; relating to harmony", synonymous with the earlier (circa 1500) armonical (tuneful, harmonious), the noun, short for harmonic tone, dating from 1777.  Harmony was first attested in 1602 and was from the Middle English armonye, from Old French harmonie & armonie, from the Latin harmonia, from the Ancient Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía) (joint, union, agreement, concord of sounds).  Related forms are the adverb harmonically and the unfortunate noun harmonicalness.  The old alternative spelling, harmonick, although still in use in the nineteenth century, is wholly obsolete.  Harmonic is a noun & adjective, harmonica & harmonicist are nouns and harmonically is an adverb; the noun plural is harmonics.

Harmonica was coined in 1762 by Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) as the name for a glass harmonica, from the feminine of the Latin harmonicus.  The use to describe a "reeded mouth organ" is a creation of American English from 1873, displacing the earlier (1825) harmonicon.  The adjective enharmonic (referencing Greek music) is from the Late Latin enharmonicus, from the Ancient Greek enharmonikos, the construct being en- (the intensive prefix) + harmonikos.  From 1794 it picked up a technical use in music criticism to refer to reference to a modern music note that can be indicated in different ways (G sharp/A flat).  The adjective philharmonic (loving harmony or music) was invented in 1813 as the name of a London society founded for the purpose of promoting instrumental music and was from the 1739 French philharmonique, from the Italian filarmonico (literally "loving harmony") the construct being the Ancient Greek philos (loving) + harmonika (theory of harmony, music) from the neuter plural of harmonikos.  Over the centuries, the word philharmonic was adopted by many symphony orchestras and organisations devoted to fine music.

Engine harmony

Harmonic balancers are circular devices, made of rubber and metal, attached to the front-end of the crankshafts of internal combustion engines to help absorb vibrations.  During the combustion process, each piston is forced down the cylinder as a result of a pressure rise (induced by the explosion of the fuel-air mix) within the combustion chamber, the stroke imparting a sudden rotational force to the crankshaft which, although (hopefully) stiff and robust, is not perfectly rigid.  During these events, which happen thousands of times per minute, the crankshaft (in a process called torsional vibration) will twist slightly in response to each application of pressure which can be several tons.  The force of the combustion process causes the crankshaft slightly to deflect in the direction of the force and when that force ceases, the crankshaft springs back.  At certain frequencies the crank can resonate, worsening the vibration.  The harmonic balancer is the dampener which absorbs these forces.

ATI Performance part number 917562 (Super Damper, Standard Harmonic Balancer) for Ford 335 series (370/429/460/514 cubic inch V8).

The name harmonic balancer can be misleading in that most do not balance an engine, rather they absorb and remove unwanted vibration due to torsional twisting of the crankshaft and are thus vibration dampeners which is why some engineers prefer to call them dampeners.  In some engines though, a harmonic balancer can be part of the engine balancing strategy with weights added to the balancer to offset the weight of the pistons and conrods.  This is called external balancing, whereas internal balancing refers to the weight distribution of the crankshaft.

eHarmony

In 2009, a video surfaced of Lindsay Lohan which appeared to be a profile piece for the on-line dating site eHarmony.  Unfortunately, it was a spoof video for the site FunnyorDie.com but delivered with her usual comedic sense, the script included the lines:

Hi. I'm Lindsay and I'm recently single... I think... and I’m looking for someone with whom I can spend the rest of my life with, or at least the rest of my probation.

I’m an actress, a singer, an entrepreneur, and I have single-handedly kept 90 per cent of all gossip web sites in business.

I’m a workaholic, a shopaholic and, according to the state of California, an alcoholic, as well as a threat to all security guards if they work at hotels.  And to put all those rumors to rest, I am not broke.  I actually have over $400 in the bank and 20,000 Marlboro Miles, which I’m very proud of.

I'm looking for a compatible mate who likes a night out on the town (as long as he or she is driving), ankle monitoring bracelets and doesn’t have family members quick to issue restraining orders.

My dream date likes long walks on the beach, car chases on the Pacific Coast Highway, antiquing and passing out in Cadillac Escalades.

So, if you think you can handle a redhead with a little bit of sass, and by that I mean a redhead that’s crazy, we’ll crash a few parties, a car or two, but at the end of the day, I promise you I never lose my Google hits … just my underwear.