Waves and Sound Worksheet
Waves and Sound Worksheet
Waves and Sound Worksheet
(ii)
Determine the frequency of the wave, given that the speed of the wave is 75 cm/s. State clearly the
formula that you use and give your answer to a suitable number of significant figures.
2. (a) Fig. 6.1 shows the position of layers of air, at one moment, as a sound wave of constant frequency
passes through the air. Compressions are labelled C. Rarefactions are labelled R.
(i)
(ii)
On Fig. 6.1, draw a line marked with arrows at each end to show the wavelength
of the sound.
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(a) As the sound wave passes a point, it produces regions of higher and lower pressure. State the names of
these regions.
higher pressure ..........................................................
lower pressure ..........................................................
(b) Describe how the movement of the loudspeaker cone produces these regions of different pressure.
I.
II.
higher pressure
lower pressure
(c) State the effect on the loudness and pitch of the sound from the loudspeaker when
(i)
(ii)
I.
II.
the amplitude increases but the frequency of the sound stays the same,
I.
loudness
II.
pitch
the amplitude stays the same but the frequency increases.
loudness
pitch
4. A disused railway line has a length of 300 m. A man puts his ear against one end of the rail and another man
hits the other end with a metal hammer, as shown in Fig. 7.1.
(a) (i) State an approximate value for the speed of sound in air.
(iii)
(b) The man with his ear to the railway line actually hears two sounds from the hammer,
separated by a short interval.
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6. On the below figure shows a machine for making loud sounds. It is called a siren. This
consists of a rotating disc with 25 holes. As each hole passes the jet, a puff of air passes
through the hole.
(i) How many puffs of air will there be during one revolution of the disc?
(ii) The disc rotates 40 times per second.
Show that the frequency of the note produced by the siren is 1000 Hz.
(b) The siren described in (a) is located some distance from a large building
The siren is briefly sounded once. A short time later, the sound is heard again.
(i) Why is this second sound heard?
(ii) What is the frequency of this second sound?
(iii) What is the amplitude of this second sound?
7. Observations of a distant thunderstorm are made.
(a) During a lightning flash, the average wavelength of the light emitted is 5
light travels at 3
10
m. This
(b) The interval between the lightning flash being seen and the thunder being heard is 3.6 s.
The speed of sound in air is 340 m/s.
(i)
(ii)
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8. (a) The below figure shows the air pressure variation along a sound wave.
(i) On AB of the above figure, mark one point of compression with a dot and the letter C
and the next point of rarefaction with a dot and the letter R.
(ii) In terms of the wavelength, what is the distance along the wave between a
compression and the next rarefaction?
(b) A sound wave travels through air at a speed of 340 m/s. Calculate the frequency of a
sound wave of wavelength 1.3 m.
9. A girl is walking along a path 1600m from the rock-face of a quarry (a place where stone is obtained).
(a) The quarry workers set off an explosion at X to break up some rock. The girl measures
the time interval between seeing the flash and hearing the bang. The time is 5.0 s.
(i) Calculate the speed of the sound.
(ii) State what assumption you have made in your working in (i).
(b) Suppose the explosion had taken place at Y instead of X.
State two ways in which the girls observations would have been different.
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10. A student sits in the middle of a large rectangular hall which is 17m wide. When the student bangs a drum,
two echoes are heard, 50 ms and 80ms, respectively, after the bang. Assuming that there is no echo from
the ceiling, calculate
(a) the speed of sound in air,
(b) the length of the hall.
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The speed of light in air is 3.00 x 10 m/s. The speed of sound in air is 0.340 Km/s. An
observer is 5.00 km away from a lightning discharge.
(c) Calculate the travel time, to the observer, of
(i)
light from the lightning flash,
(ii)
sound from the thunder.
(d) what is the time interval between the observer seeing the lightning and hearing the
thunder?
11. A student measures the speed of sound in a laboratory, as shown in the below figure.
The sound is received by two microphones placed a distance d apart. The time interval t
between the sound arriving at the two microphones is recorded.
(a) (i) Explain how sound travels through the air to the microphones.
(ii) Explain why microphone 2 detects a quieter sound than microphone 1.
(b) Fig. 11.2 shows average values for t as d is varied.
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(i) Draw a distance-time graph from the results given from the above table.
(ii) Using your graph, calculate the speed of sound in air.
12. Fig. 4.1 shows circular wavefronts produced at the centre of a circular ripple tank.
Two corks, A and B, float on the water in the ripple tank. They move up and down on the surface of the water
as the wave passes. The wavelength of the wave is 8.0 cm.
Fig. 4.2 shows how the displacement of A varies with time.
13. Fig. 4.1 and Fig.4.2 are diagrams of a ripple tank being used to show two properties of waves.
(a) Fig. 4.1 shows wavefronts approaching a barrier in the water.
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Complete Fig. 4.1 to show the reflection of the wavefronts at the barrier.
(b) Fig. 4.2 shows the wavefronts approaching shallow water above a piece of glass.
(i)
(ii)
As the wave passes into the shallow water, state what, if anything, happens to
(ii)
Use Fig. 10.1 to calculate the number of pulses sent out by the source in one
second.
(iii)
Suggest two reasons why the amplitude of R is less than the amplitude of S.
(iv)
Some time later, the piece of metal is tested again. It now has a small
Crack half-way between the front surface and the back surface.
On Fig. 10.1, draw the position and size of the pulses produced by this crack.
Label each of these pulses C.
(v)
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0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.
0
3.6
2.4
1.6
2.4
3.5
4.4
(i)
How many minutes after the storm started did it reach its closest point to the
laboratory?
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(ii)
How can you tell that the storm was never immediately over the laboratory?
(iii)
When the storm started, it was immediately above a village 1200 m from the
laboratory.
Using this information and information from Fig. 7.1, calculate the speed of sound.
(iv)
State the assumption you made when you calculated your answer to (b)(iii).
17. Some plane waves travel on the surface of water in a tank. They pass from a region of deep water into a
region of shallow water. Fig. 6.1 shows what the waves look like from above.
(b) The waves have a speed of 0.12 m / s in the deep water. Wave crests are 0.08 m apart in the deep water.
Calculate the frequency of the source producing the waves. State the equation that you use.
Fig. 6.2 shows identical waves moving towards the boundary at an angle.
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On Fig. 6.2, draw carefully the remainder of waves A and B, plus the two previous waves
which reached the shallow water. You will need to use your ruler to do this.
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