Waves questions

MCQ
1 A standing sound wave is set up between a loudspeaker and a wall.

A microphone is connected to a cathode-ray oscilloscope (c.r.o.) and is moved along a

line directly between the loudspeaker and the wall. The amplitude of the trace on the c.r.o.
rises to a maximum when the microphone is at a position X, falls to a minimum and then
rises once again to a maximum at a position Y.

The distance between X and Y is 33.4 cm. The speed of sound in air is 334 m s–1.

Which diagram represents the c.r.o. trace of the sound received by the microphone at X?

A B

C D

2 A longitudinal wave of frequency 100 Hz is traveling in a gas at a speed of 200 m s-1.

The phase difference between 2 points P and Q along the path of the wave is 5π/4
radian.
What is the distance between points P and Q?

A 0.525 m B 1.05 m C 1.15 m D 1.25 m

3 The same progressive wave is represented by the following graphs.

Which of the following gives the speed of propagation of the progressive wave?
𝑝𝑝 𝑞𝑞 1
A pq B 𝑞𝑞
C 𝑝𝑝
D 𝑞𝑞

4 The diagram represents a longitudinal wave travelling from left to right at a frequency of 200
Hz. Two particles in the wave labelled X and Y are separated by a distance of 50 m.

XX Y
Y
What is the velocity of the wave?

A 2000 m s−1

B 4000 m s−1

C 6700 m s−1

D 8000 m s−1

5 The least distance between two points of a progressive transverse wave which have
π
a phase difference of rad is 0.050 m.
3

If the frequency of the wave is 500 Hz, what is the speed of the wave?

A 25 m s-1 B 75 m s-1 C 150 m s-1 D 1666 m s-1

 6 The phase difference between 2 points at a distance 60 cm apart along a progressive
π
transverse wave is rad.
2

If the frequency of the wave is 200 Hz, what is the speed of the wave?

A 240 m s-1 B 480 m s-1 C 24000 m s-1 D 48000 m s-1

7 A point source of sound emits energy equally in all directions at a constant rate and a person
8.0 m from the source listens. After a while, the intensity of the source is tripled. If the person
wishes the sound to seem as loud as before, how far should he be standing now?

A 4.9 m B 11.5 m C 13.9 m D 24.0 m

8
9 A point source of sound is placed at point S.

The air molecules at P, a distance r from S, oscillate with an amplitude of 8.0 μm. Point Q
is situated at a distance 2r from S.

What is the amplitude of oscillation of air molecules at point Q?

A 1.4 μm B 2.0 μm C 2.8 μm D 4.0 μm

10 The diagram illustrates the displacement of particles in a longitudinal progressive waves

of frequency f at an instant of time.

What is the time taken for a wavefront to travel the distance from P to Q?

1 1 1 2
A B C D
4f 2f f f
 11 The diagram shows the variation with time of the displacement of two transverse
progressive waves, X and Y.

wave X wave Y

Which of the following statements is correct?

A Wave X leads wave Y by π/4 rad.

B Wave X lags wave Y by π/4 rad.
C Wave X leads wave Y by π/3 rad.
D Wave X lags wave Y by π/3 rad.

12 The diagram shows a transverse wave on a rope. The wave is travelling from left to right. At
the instant shown, the points P and Q on the rope have zero displacement and maximum
displacement respectively.

direction of wave travel

Which of the following describes the direction of motion, if any, of the points P and Q at this
instant?

P Q
A upwards stationary
B stationary downwards
C stationary upwards
D downwards stationary
 13 A sound wave travelling towards the right through air causes the air molecules to be
displaced from their original positions. The graph below shows the variation with distance
of the displacement of the air molecules at a particular instant in time.

displacement
D

A C
distance

Taking the displacement towards the right as positive, at which point is the pressure
maximum?

14

15 Plane polarised light of amplitude A is incident on a polarising filter aligned so that no

light is transmitted.

The filter is now rotated through an angle of 30°.

What is the amplitude of the transmitted light?

A 0.25 A B 0.50 A C 0.75 A D 0.87 A

16 Two sheets of polaroid, P and Q, are placed so that their polarizing directions are parallel
and vertical, as shown in the diagram. The amplitude of the emergent beam is A0.

P Q

emergent beam

What is the smallest angle through which Q must be turned for the amplitude of the
emergent beam to be reduced to ½ A0?

A 30 ° B 45 ° C 60 ° D 90 °

17
18 Unpolarised light is incident on a polariser. The light transmitted by the first polariser is
then incident on a second polariser. The polarising axis of the second polariser is at 60°
to that of the first polariser.

The intensity emerging from the second polariser is I f .

Which of the following correctly gives the intensity incident on the first polariser?

lf lf
A B C 4lf D 8lf
8 4

19 A beam of plane-polarised light of intensity M after passing through polaroid P1 falls

normally on to a thin sheet of Polaroid P2 as shown below. When polaroid P2 is rotated
through an angle θ, the transmitted beam through polaroid P2 has an intensity of ¼ M.

What is the angle θ between the plane of incident polarisation and the polarising
direction of the polaroid P2?

A 600 B 450 C 300 D 22.50

20 A narrow, parallel beam of unpolarised light is directed towards three ideal polarising filters.
The beam meets the first filter with its axis of polarisation vertical. The axis of polarisation of the
second filter is at an angle of 10° to the first filter. The third filter has its axis of polarisation parallel
to the second filter as shown.

unpolarised
light

transmitted
light

The third filter is now turned.

At what angle must the third filter be with respect to the second filter so that the intensity of the
transmitted light is reduced to one-third of the intensity of the unpolarised light?

A 34° B 44° C 47° D 54°

21 A light source is viewed through two pieces of polarizers with their axes initially at ½ π rad
from each other.

Q

P

Which graph correctly shows the variation of intensity reaching the eye with angular
displacement of the Q with respect to P when polarizer Q is rotated?

A B
intensity intensity

2π θ 2π
θ

C D
intensity intensity

2π θ 2π θ
Structured
1. (a) Fig. 1.1 shows the variation of the height of a water wave against its horizontal
distance at 12 noon.

Fig. 1.1
(i) The waves are traveling at the speed of 1.25 m s−1. Show that the frequency
of the waves is 0.104 Hz. [1]
(ii) Two buoys, fixed in position, are floating on the open sea.
The waves take 2.00 minutes to travel directly from one buoy to the other
buoy. Determine the phase difference of the two buoys. [2]

2 (a) A speaker emits sound waves uniformly in all directions. Fig. 2.1 shows the variation
with time t of the displacement x of an air molecule at a point Q that is 120 cm from
the speaker.
x / mm

0.20

0 t / ms
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

−0.20

Fig. 2.1
 (i) Use Fig. 2.1 to determine the

1.frequency f of the sound waves, [1]

2.uncertainty in f calculated in (a)(i)1. caused by reading the scale of the
graph. [3]
(ii) Determine the next earliest time after 1.5 ms when the motion of the air
4
molecule at Q has a phase difference of π compared to its phase at 1.5 ms.
5
[2]
(iii) If the power of the source is reduced to 0.25 of its initial value, calculate the
distance from the speaker that will have the same intensity as that at point Q.
[2]
(b) The wave arriving at point Q is progressive in nature. A stationary wave may be
formed when two identical waves travelling in opposite directions superpose.

State the differences between the particles of a progressive wave and particles of a
stationary wave in the following aspects:

(i) amplitude, [1]

(ii) phase difference. [1]

3 A particle in a medium is oscillating because of the passage of a transverse wave W1.

The wave has intensity I at this point. The amplitude of the oscillation is A.
Fig. 3.1 shows the variation with time t of the displacement x of the particle.

0
0 2.5 5.0 7.5 t / ms

Fig. 3.1
A second, similar transverse wave W2 has the same frequency and is incident on the same
particle. The amplitude of the oscillation due to W2 alone is 2.5 A at this point.
(a) Calculate
(i) the frequency of the waves, [1]
 (ii) the intensity, in terms of I, of the wave W2. [2]
(b) (i) State two conditions which are necessary for the waves W1 and W2 to produce an
observable interference pattern. [2]
(ii) State the condition that must be satisfied if the waves are to interfere to produce a
minimum resultant intensity at a point. [1]
(iii) Calculate, in terms of I, this minimum intensity. [2]

4 (a) With reference to the vibrations of the particles on a wave and its direction of energy
transfer, distinguish between transverse waves and longitudinal waves. [2]
(b) Fig. 4.1 shows the equilibrium positions of the particles in a medium when they are
undisturbed as compared to their displaced positions in the presence of a
progressive sinusoidal wave. Displacement to the right is taken as positive.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Fig. 4.1
(i) Deduce the displacement of particle 2 when the wave passes through it at
the instant shown in Fig. 4.1. [1]
(ii) Draw, using the axes provided below, the displacement-position graph
representing all the particles disturbed by the wave as shown in Fig. 4.1.
Indicate on your graph all centers of rarefaction R and compression C. [3]
displacement / cm
1.0

position

-1.0

(iii) Hence deduce the amplitude of the progressive wave. [1]

(iv) State the phase difference between particles 5 and 7. [1]
5 (a) A commonly used quantity in astronomy is luminosity. The luminosity of a star is the total
energy radiated by the star per second.
(i) The luminosity of our sun is 3.826 × 1026 J s-1. The mean distance of the Earth
from the sun is 1.496 × 108 km. Determine the intensity of light reaching the Earth.
[2]
(ii) A student, using a photometer that measures the intensity of visible light,
measures the intensity of sunlight at noon to be less than the value calculated in
(a)(i). Suggest a reason for this observation. [1]
(iii) A photometer of area 4.00 x 102 cm2 is aimed directly at the sun at the top of a
building. Determine the maximum power incident on the photometer. [2]
(b) Fig. 5.1 shows the displacement y of a particle in a sinusoidal wave as a function of time t.

y / cm

t/s

Fig 5.1
(i) Using Fig. 5.1, write an equation that represents the displacement y of the particle
in terms of t. [2]

(ii)
λ
A second particle is situated nearer to the source of the wave, at a distance from
4
the first. Determine the phase difference between the vibrations of the two particles.
[2]
(iii) Sketch in Fig. 5.1 to illustrate the variation with time of the displacement of the
second particle. [2]
6 (a) A point source of sound S emits a note of frequency 520 Hz at constant power. Two points
along the wave X and Y, separated by a distance of 0.490 m, have a phase difference of
3
π rad as shown in Fig. 6.1. Point X is 5.24 m away from S.
2

S X Y

5.24 m 0.490 m

Fig. 6.1

(i) Determine the wavelength and speed of the sound wave. [3]

(ii) Given that the intensity at X is 2.6 × 10−3 W m−2, calculate the intensity of the sound at
Y. [2]

(b) A parallel beam of light is incident on two polarisers P and Q. When the polarising
directions are parallel, the amplitude of the emergent beam is A as shown in Fig. 6.2.

P Q

incident beam emergent beam

Fig. 6.2

(i) Determine the angle through which Q must be rotated so that the amplitude of the
A
emergent beam is reduced to . [2]
2

(ii) Determine the corresponding fractional change in the intensity of the emergent beam.
[2]