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PRE-ELEM: 04 S. 2017, ELEMENTARY: 5, S. 2017, JHS: 06, S.2017, SHS: 059 S.2018
School ID: 408281
Subject: GENERAL PHYSICS 1 Quarter: FINAl
Topic: Calculate Doppler Effect for Sound
Week: Notes: 12
EQUATION OF A DOPPLER EFFECT

The Doppler effect is not all theoretical though. We can use the Doppler effect equation to calculate
both the velocity of the source and observer, the original frequency of the sound waves and the
observed frequency of the sound waves.

Doppler Effect Formula

The sound heard by the listener changes if the source of that sound and the listener are moving relative
to each other. This is what the Doppler Effect is. When the listener and the source move close, the
frequency which the listener heard is higher than the sound which the source emits.

Similarly, when the listener and the source move away from one another, the frequency which the
listener hears is lower than the frequency of the sound from the source. The unit of sound frequency
is Hertz (Hz). Over here, one Hertz is a cycle per second 1 Hz = 1 s-1 = 1 cycle/s.

Thus, the equation comes as:

fL =v+v1/v-vs(fs)

Over here:
fL refers to the frequency of sound which the listener hears (Hz, or 1/s)
v is the speed of sound in the medium (m/s)
vL refers to the velocity of the listener (m/s)
vs is the velocity of the source of the sound (m/s)
fs refers to the frequency of sound which the source emits (Hz, or 1/s)
 Doppler shift Stationary observer Observer moving Observer moving away
towards source from source
fo=fs(v±vo/v∓vs)

Stationary source fo=fs fo=fs(v+vo/v) fo=fs(v−vo/v)

Source moving fo=fs(v/v−vs) fo=fs(v+vo/v−vs) fo=fs(v−vo/v−vs)
towards observer

Source moving fo=fs(v/v+vs) fo=fs(v+vo/v+vs) fo=fs(v−vo/v+vs)

away from observer

Example 1:
A driver in a car is traveling on a road next to railway tracks. When the train approaches, it blows
the horn which generates a sound with a single frequency of 420.0 Hz. The driver is driving at the
speed of 18.0 m/s and the train’s speed is 32.0 m/s. Further, the sound’s speed is 340.0 m/s.
Calculate the frequency of the sound which the driver of the car will hear.
The values known to us are v = 340.0 m/s , vL = +18.0 m/s, vs = -32.0 m/s and fs = 420.0 Hz.

fL =v+vl/v-vs(fs)
fL = 340.0m/s+18.0m/s/340.0m/s–32.0m/s (420.0
Hz) fL = 358.0m/s/308.0m/s (420.0 Hz)
fL ≅ (1.162) (420.0 Hz)
fL ≅ 488.04 Hz

Example 2:

The ambulance is traveling at 25m/s, but you are still stationary. The frequency of the sound
emitted by the ambulance is 1,000Hz, and the sound waves travel with a velocity of 343m/s. Since
your velocity is zero, we can eliminate vo again from the equation. But this time, the ambulance is
moving away from you, so its velocity is negative to indicate the direction. Inserting our numbers
into the equation gets us:

Solution:
f'=(v/v-vs)
(fs)
= (343/343-25)1000
= (1.079) (1000)
=1079Hz