Sampling - Higher order harmonics

1. What are higher order harmonics?
2. What happens when the sampling frequency is too high?
3. What is the highest sampling frequency?
4. What will happen when sampling rate is greater than Nyquist rate?

What are higher order harmonics?

A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the 1st harmonic, the other harmonics are known as higher harmonics.

What happens when the sampling frequency is too high?

If the rate of samples is too high the system may not be able to process them fast enough - it runs out of processing time.

What is the highest sampling frequency?

44,100 Hz (44.1 kHz) is the sampling rate of audio CDs giving a 20 kHz maximum frequency. 20 kHz is the highest frequency generally audible by humans, so making 44,100 Hz the logical choice for most audio material.

What will happen when sampling rate is greater than Nyquist rate?

It is the critical rate of sampling. If the signal xt is sampled above the Nyquist rate, the original signal can be recovered, and if it is sampled below the Nyquist rate, the signal cannot be recovered.