Why one large bell carries farther than many small ones
A note on the strength and reach of sound
This faded page holds a single note about the propagation of sound. Leonardo reasons that a bell whose sound carries two miles, if broken up and recast into many small bells rung all at once, would never be heard at so great a distance as when its metal was united in one single bell. The argument concerns how the concentration of a sounding body governs the reach of its sound.
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One large bell against many small ones
If a bell can be heard two miles off, and is then broken up and recomposed into many small bells all rung at the same time, they will never be heard at so great a distance as the single bell was. The note treats the loudness and reach of sound as depending on the undivided mass of the sounding body.