Where:

v = wave speed
F = Force or tension in the string
 = linear density (mass per unit
length)
Sample Problem
 Sound Waves

Most people like to listen to music, but hardly anyone likes to

listen to noise. What is the physical difference between musical
sound and noise?
 What is sound?
• It’s a disturbance that travels through a
medium.
• Sound travels in a longitudinal wave with
the molecules of the medium close in a
compression and farther
rarefaction
away in a liquid, solid
• Sound waves can travel in
gas,
and no molecules
, but for space
not in outer
compression
because there or rarefaction
are to transmit
waves.
 Speed of Sound

• At room temperature, the speed of sound

is 342 m/s.

• The speed of sound waves depends on:

– Temperature: low = slow, high = fast
– Density: low (thin) = fast, high (thick) = slow
– Elasticity: high = fast, low = slow
How well a material bounces
back after a distrubance.
Example Problem
The wavelength of a sound wave in air is 2.74 m at
20 °C. What is the wavelength of this sound wave
in fresh water at 20 °C? (Hint: the frequency is the
same).
Solution: Given air = 2.74 m, fair=fwater
 v v
  vT   f 
f 
f air  f water
v air v water v water
  water  air
air water v air
1482 m/s
water  (2.74 m)  11.8 m
344 m/s
How about for the sound wave in steel?
5941 m/s
water  (2.74 m)  47.32 m
344 m/s
 As a sound wave passes from one medium to
another, its speed and wavelength changes, but
not its frequency
Closed Pipe
Doppler Effect
 Doppler effect?

• When a sound seems to change its

frequency when it really doesn’t
change.
– Waves are not evenly spread out in
the front and back, so the person in
the front hears more because the
waves are more packed together than
behind
The Doppler Effect of a Sound Wave
 When a car passes you (at rest) holding its horn,
the horn sound appears to have a higher pitch (larger
f) as the car approaches and a lower pitch (smaller f)
as the car recedes – this is the Doppler Effect
(named for an Austrian physicist)
You hear the frequency of
sound waves as pitch.
High frequency/pitch. Low frequency/pitch.

• High pitch sound waves come closer together.

• Low pitch sound waves come further apart.
 Stationary Wave Source

Wherever you listen, you

hear the same pitch.

The waves come to each ear at the

same frequency.
 Why is the pitch the same everywhere?

Frequency λ λ

is the same f f
R
everywhere. L

Stationary Wave Source

J. Gabrielse
 Moving Wave Source

Pitch is
not the same
everywhere .
Pitch depends on how the wave source is moving
relative to the listener.

Why isn’t pitch the

same everywhere?
 Answer: The Doppler Effect

Frequency is higher
when the wave source
is coming closer.
λ λ

f
f
Frequency is lower L R
when the wave source
is going away.

Moving Wave Source

J. Gabrielse
 Summary: The Doppler Effect
What you hear is pitch.
Pitch depends on
frequency.
Frequency is inversely
proportional to wavelength.
λ λ
The wavelength depends f
on relative speed. f
L R
So the frequency depends
on relative speed.
What pitch you hear
depends on relative speed.

J. Gabrielse
 Question 1:
Vote with Your Fingers
What will you hear if a car is coming towards you?

A lower pitched sound than the driver.

The same pitched sound as the driver.

A higher pitched sound than the driver.

 Question 2:
Vote with Your Fingers

What will you hear if a car is driving away from you?

A lower pitched sound than the driver.

The same pitched sound as the driver.

A higher pitched sound than the driver.

 Doppler Effect Equations:
Stationary observer Stationary source:  

 v   v  vo 
f o    f s + = moving away
fo    fs
+ = getting closer
- = moving away
 v  vs
- = getting closer
  v 

vo = observer velocity fo = observed frequency

vs = source velocity fs = source frequency
v = speed of sound

30
 The effect occurs because the number of sound
wave condensations (crest) changes from when
the car is approaching to when the car is receding
(and is different if the car and you are both at rest)
 The frequency of the car horn, we call the
source frequency, fs . Also called the rest frequency
since it is the sound frequency you would hear if
the car and you (observer) each had zero velocity.

 When both the source and observer are at rest,

a condensation (wave crest) passes the observer
every T with the distance between each crest
equal to the wavelength 
 The frequency heard by the observer fo=fs
 Now consider two different cases: 1) the source
moving with velocity vs and the observer at rest and
2) the source at rest and the observer moving with
velocity vo
Moving Source
 The car is moving toward you with vs. It emits a
wave. A time T later it emits another wave,

but the
car has traveled a distance d=vsT 
 The wavelength between

d
each wave is reduced. Therefore ’
the frequency heard by the  
observer must increase
The reduced wavelength is
     d    v sT
The frequency heard by the observer is
v sound v Let vsound=v
fo  
   v sT
v v  v 
fo    f s  
v vs 1  v - vs 
 (v - v s )
fs f s fs
 1  For source moving
f o  f s   towards observer, fo>fs
 1  v s /v 
 For source moving away 
from observer, wavelength  
increases
     v sT d
’
 
 Following the same
procedures gives   1 
f o  f s  
 For source moving  1  vs / v 
away, fo<fs. Observer hears
lower pitch.
Moving Observer
 If the observer moves toward the source (which is
at rest) with speed vo, the emitted wavelength 
remains constant
 But the observer can “run’’ into more cycles
(wave crests) than if she remained at rest. The
number of additional cycles encountered is
v ot / 
 Or the additional number of cycles/second,
which is a frequency, is v /  f 
o
 Therefore, the frequency heard by the observer
is vo  vo 
fo  fs  f   fs   f s 1  
  fs 
 vo 
f o  f s 1   since   v/f s
 v 
 Therefore, if the observer is moving towards the
source, the frequency heard by the observer is
increased, fo>fs
 Now, for the observer moving away from the
source, she will encounter vot/ fewer wave crests
than if she remained stationary. The observed
frequency will be:
vo  vo 
fo  fs  f   fs   f s 1  
  fs 
 vo 
f o  f s 1   In this case f0<fs
 v 
 To summarize: 1) Moving source
 1  (-) moving together
f o  f s  
 1 v s / v  (+) moving apart
 2) Moving observer:
 vo  (+) moving together
f o  f s 1  
 v  (-) moving apart
 Note that equations look similar, but mechanisms
for frequency shifts (f=fo-fs) are different
 Finally, both observer and source can be moving
1  vo / v 
f o  f s  
 1 v s / v 
 Example Problem
Suppose you are stopped for a traffic light and an
ambulance approaches from behind with a speed
of 18 m/s. The siren on the ambulance produces
sound with a frequency of 955 Hz. The air sound
speed is 343 m/s. What is the wavelength of the
sound reaching your ears?
Solution:
Given: vo=0,vs=18 m/s, v=343 m/s, fs=955 Hz
Method: find fo then o, use moving source
equation
  1  Use (-) since source is
fo  f s   approaching observer,
 1 v s / v  fo>fs
 1   1 
fo  f s    (955 Hz) 
 1  vs / v   1 - (18 /343) 
fo  1008 Hz  v/o
o  v/f o  (343 m/s) /(1000 Hz)  0.340 m
Compare to source wavelength
 s  v/f s  (343 m/s) /(955 Hz)  0.359 m
 Wave
properties of
sound
 Waves

Reflection -sound
1. Sound is reflected when it meets a
boundary between two materials –
air/brick.
2. Reflected sound can produce an echo.
Echo - reflection
 Echolocation

• Instead of relying on their sense of

sight to navigate in the dark and find
food, bats make rapid high-pitched
squeaks called "ultrasounds".  These
sounds are too high for most people to
hear.
Echolocation
•  When the sound hits
an object an echo
comes back.  The bat
can identify an object
by the sound of the
echo. They can even
tell the size, shape
and texture of  a tiny
insect from its echo.
Bending of sound waves because some of the wave
fronts travel at different speeds.
 This happens because sounds travel in uneven winds
or uneven temperatures.
Also occurs underwater due to temperature
difference.
Blessings to submarine that wish to escape
detection.
Multiple reflections and refractions are used by
physicians for harmless viewing inside the body
without using x-rays
Refraction of sound waves at different temperatures

Day

Night
Ultrasound
-sound waves with frequencies above the
normal human range of hearing.
Sounds in the range from 20-100kHz

Infrasound
- sounds with frequencies below the
normal human range of hearing.
Sounds in the 20-200 Hz range
 What ultrasound detects
• verify intrauterine implantation to exclude
ectopic pregnancy, to diagnose a missed
abortion, to establish gestation age and
due date, and determine if there are
multiple embryos
 Acoustical
properties of
sound
 What’s heard

• The human ear naturally hears

frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz.
• Those sounds below the threshold
are called infrasounds.
• Those sounds above the threshold
are called ultrasounds.
• If a sound has the same frequency as
an object, they have resonance.
 Describing Sound

• Sound can be described by its:

– Intensity: how much energy is carried in
a wave in 1 second over a specific area
– Loudness: what’s actually heard;
measured in decibels (dB)
– Frequency: how much vibration there is
because of a wave
– Pitch: how high or low a sound is to an
individual person; it depends on the
frequency of the sound
Resonance – The response of a body when a
forcing frequency matches its natural
frequency.
Reverberation – Persistence of sound, as in
an echo, due to multiple reflections.
Beats – A series of alternate reinforcements
and cancellations produced by the interference
of two waves of slightly different frequencies,
heard by as a throbbing effect in sound waves.
B = Bulk modulus measured in Pascal (Pa)
 = density of the medium
Y = Young’s modulus measured in Pascal (Pa)
 = density of the medium
 = ratio of heat capacities (dimensionless)
R = gas constant (8.31 J/mol K)
T = absolute temperature (Kelvin)
M = molar mass or mass per mole
Supersonic Flight
Technological uses of sound
waves
• SONAR
– Sound Navigation and Ranging
– Sound waves are reflected back
– Ships and subs use
• Ultrasound and Infrasound
– Use echolocation to locate objects
– Bats, whales, and dolphins use to
communicate and find food
– Doctors use to look at organs and babies
– Cameras use it to focus on objects