Name Date Period

Standing Waves Worksheet

Show your work clearly on a separate page if necessary. Make a sketch of the problem. Start each
solution with a fundamental concept equation written in symbolic variables. Solve for the unknown
variable in a step-by step sequence.

1. Two children use a homemade “telephone” consisting of two paper cups attached by an aluminum
wire which is 8.4 m long. Determine the time for the “sound” to travel from one cup to the other.
How does this compare with the time for sound to travel the same distance through air? (speed of
sound in aluminum is 5100 m/s, in air is 343 m/s)
8.4 m

Aluminum wire Air

v  x v  x
t t
5100  8.4  t  0.00165s  1.65ms 343  .4
8  t  0.0245s  24.5ms
t t
2. An unfingered guitar string is 0.70 m long and is tuned to play E above middle C (330 Hz) (that is the
first harmonic).
a) What is the speed of the wave on the string?
b) How far from the end of this string must the finger be placed to play A above middle C (440 Hz)?
…
f1  330  v v  v  462m / s
2L 1.4
……………OR
L   / 2    1.4m
L = 0.7 m v  f  (1.4)(330)  462m / s

f1  440  v  462  L  0.525m

2L 2L

L=?
Shorter length is as expected. Higher pitch is shorter wavelength
To get a 0.525m string, finger has to be placed 0.7-0.525 = 0.175m from end.
3. A uniform narrow tube 1.8 m long is open at both ends. It resonates at two successive harmonics of
frequency 275 Hz and 330 Hz. What is the speed of sound in the gas in the tube?
We only know that 275Hz and 330Hz are successive harmonics; they could be the 2nd and the
3rd, the 20th and the 21st, …..
For an open-open tube, the harmonic frequencies follow the following rule:
nv
fn 
2L
nv nv f n  275  nf1 
f n  275  
2 L 2(1.8) OR f n 1  330  (n  1) f1
(n  1)v (n  1)v
f n 1  330   v v
2L 2(1.8) f n 1  f n  f1  
2 L 2(1.8)
(n  1)v  nv
f n 1  f n  v
3 .6 330  275  55   v  198m / s
3.6
v
330  275  55   v  198m / s
3.6

4. Someone is singing in a shower that measures 2.40 meters from floor to

ceiling, and notices their voice causes the shower to resonate with a
fundamental frequency of 73 Hz.
a. Sketch the standing wave and calculate the speed of sound in the
shower? (Hint: the shower stall acts like a pipe closed at both ends) 2.4m

L  1 / 2  v / 2 f1
f1  v / 2 L
73  v  v  v  350.4m / s
2L 2(2.4)

b. Sketch the standing wave for the 2nd harmonic (first overtone) and calculate the frequency.

L  2  v / f 2
f 2  v / L  350.4 / 2.4  146 Hz  2 f1
2.4m
5. A pipe organ has pipes of many different lengths. Which pipes (long or short) do you think would
produce low frequency notes? Which would produce high frequency notes?
low-long pipe, high – short pipe

6. A pipe open on both ends is resonating to produce a note. What could you do that would cause the
same pipe to produce a note of a different frequency? Describe the change that each one would produce
in the pitch of the sound. (Hint: you should be able to identify at least four changes that affect the
pitch.)
a-temperature: Decrease in temperature inside tube would lower pitch; Increase in temp would raise
the pitch. Temperature changes the speed of sound and therefore changes the harmonic
frequencies.
b) Medium: changing gas inside the tube would change the pitch because changes the speed of sound.
Put heavier gas, speed lower, pitch lower/lighter gas, speed greater, higher pitch. If filled pipe with
liquid instead of gas, speed of sound would go up very high and harmonic frequencies and therefore
pitch would increase.
c) Tube length. Increasing tube length lowers the harmonic frequencies and therefore lowers the
pitch. Decrease in length raises pitch.

5. A hammer hits the end of a bar 1.2 m long. Sketch the standing wave on the bar for the following
harmonics. The speed of waves in the bar is 6,500. m/s. (Hint: The harmonic series of vibrations on a
metal bar would contain antinodes at each end like the sound displacement patterns in an open pipe.)
MODE DIAGRAM WAVELENGTH FREQUENCY

Fundamental
L=/2 f1=v/2L =v/1
frequency
(1st harmonic) 1=2.4 m =6500/2.4=2708Hz

2nd overtone L=3/2 f3=3v/2L =v/3=3f1

(3rd harmonic) 3=0.8 m =6500/0.8=8125Hz

F4=2v/L =v/4=4f1
Resonating with L=2
4 nodes 4=0.6 m =6500/0.6=10833Hz

Resonating with L=3/2 f3=3v/2L =v/3=3f1

4 antinodes 3=0.8 m =6500/0.8=8125Hz
6. Sketch the standing wave pattern of a resonating object that has a fixed boundary on one end and a free
boundary on the other. The length of the resonating object is 90.0 cm. (Note: this could be
resonating sound waves in a column with one closed end and one open end)

MODE DIAGRAM Number of Waves WAVELENGTH

Fundamental L = 1/4
frequency ¼ 1 = 3.6 m
(1st harmonic)

Resonating with L = 33/4

3/4
2 nodes 3 = 1.2 m

Resonating with L = 55/4

5/4
3 antinodes 5 = 0.72 m

Resonating in L = 77/4
7/4
7th harmonic 7 = 0.514 m

7. Describe the type of pipe that would have the standing waves described in each situation below.
a) The wave has displacement antinodes at both ends of the tube.
open-open tube (both ends open)
b) The wave has a displacement antinode at one end of the tube and a node at the other end of the
tube.
One open end, one closed end
c) The wave has displacement nodes at both ends of the tube.
Closed-closed (both ends closed)

8. While driving to work, Jill notices that workers have strung plastic ribbon around their worksite to
prevent people from walking into the hole. Jill notes that between two support poles the ribbon is 1.5
m long and is vibrating in a standing wave pattern with 5 loops and that the vibrating ribbon is
creating a sound that corresponds to the note A (f = 420 Hz).
a. What is the wavelength of the standing wave?
1.5m
5
L
2
5
1.5     0.6m
2
 b. What is the speed of vibrations in the ribbon?
5 5v
L  v  f  (0.6)(420)  252m / s
2 2f
5v
1.5   v  252m / s
2(420)

9. A spaceship lands on a new planet. The crew decides to measure the speed of sound in the planets
atmosphere. Taking a tube with a length of 50 cm, they find that one resonant frequency occurs at
2,520 Hz, and the next resonant frequency at 2,940 Hz. What is the speed of the sound? What is the
number of each harmonic? What type of pipe is the crew using (open-open, open-closed, closed-
closed)?
2520 Hz and 2940Hz are 2 successive harmonics. We don’t know which 2 harmonics they are.
Could be the 1st and 2nd, the 5th and 6th, the 99th and 100th ….
There is a pattern for the harmonic frequencies of sound in pipes:

For open-open pipes AND For closed-open pipes:

closed-closed pipes

nv
fn 
nv fn 
nth harmonic 2L
2L
(for all n) (only for ODD n)

Open-open or Closed-closed
nv
f n  2520 
2(0.5)
(n  1)v
f n1  2940 
2(0.5)
f n1  f n  (n  1)v  nv
2940  2520  v  420m / s

Knowing the velocity, we must find which harmonics these are. To do so plug the velocity into the
harmonic equations to find n.
nv n(420)
f n  2520  
2(0.5) 1
2520  420n
n6
Therefore 2520Hz is the 6th harmonic and 2940Hz is the 7th harmonic in an open-open pipe or a
closed-closed pipe. V=420 m/s
Closed-open (odd harmonics)
nv
f n  2520 
4(0.5)
(n  2)v
f n 2  2940 
4(0.5)
f n 2  f n  (n  2)v  nv / 2
2940  2520  v  420m / s
Knowing the velocity, we must find which harmonics these are. To do so plug the velocity into the
harmonic equations to find n.
nv n(420)
f n  2520  
4(0.5) 2
2520  210n
n  12
EVEN harmonics DO NOT resonate in a closed-open pipe so it is NOT a closed-open pipe

10. The predominant frequency of a certain police car’s siren is 1800 Hz when at rest. What frequency
do you detect if you move with a speed of 30 m/s (a) toward the car and (b) away from the car?

Towards the siren:

fs = 1800 Hz vd=30m/s

fD

Source + Detector

Expect a Doppler shift to higher frequencies:

 v  vD  343  30 
f D  f S    1800   1960 Hz
 v  vS   343  0 
Away from the siren:

Expect a Doppler shift to lower frequencies

 v  vD  343  30 
f D  f S    1800   1640 Hz
 v  vS   343  0 