SOUND WAVES

 Sound exist as vibration of pressure in a medium such as air.

 Sounds result from the vibration of an object e.g. loudspeaker, or the
drumhead, or the guitar body which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate.
PRODUCTION OF SOUND WAVE
 A sound wave can be produced by piston in a long air-filled pipe by moving
the piston back and forth. This results to the motion of air and change in air
pressure, that is, low concentration and high concentration regions.
(diagram)
 Such vibration causes the energy to be transmitted. Meaning that sound
waves carry energy from one place to another.
 The vibrating air is associated to a wave.
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 In sound wave, the particles for example, molecules of air, oscillate back and forth in
the same direction as the wave as a whole travels.
 Such waves are called longitudinal waves. (the vibration of particles in parallel to the
wave motion.
 Sound is a wave disturbance which propagates whenever atoms or molecules are
present, that is, it is the motion of these particles which constitutes sound.
 The particles oscillate back and forth (vibrate) about their equilibrium position.
Sound an example of longitudinal
wave

 Waves on a long spring: each portion of the spring is alternately compressed and
extended as the waves pass. They are also associated to density fluctuation.
 These waves are characterized by compressions and rarefactions.
 Compressions are regions where particles are closer together while rarefactions are
the regions where particles are further apart.
 In sound waves these correspond to regions of high and low pressures respectively.
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 It is important to realize that molecules do not move with the sound wave. As the wave
passes, the molecules become energized and move from their original positions. After a
molecule passes its energy to nearby molecules, the molecule’s motion diminishes until
it is affected by another passing wave.
 Therefore it is the wave’s energy transfer is what causes compression and rarefaction.
 Types of sound waves
 There are many different types of sound including, audible, inaudible, unpleasant, pleasant,
soft, loud, noise and music.
 However, depending on the frequency, sound waves can be broadly classified into two major
types.
 Waves below 20 Hz are called infrasonic waves (infrasound), while higher frequencies above
20,000 Hz are known as ultrasonic waves (ultrasound).

I. Infrasonic waves (infrasound).

 Infrasonic waves have frequencies below 20 Hz, which makes them inaudible to the human ear.
 Infrasound is used to detect earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, to map rock and petroleum
formations underground, and to study activity in the human heart.
 Despite our inability to hear infrasound, many animals use infrasonic waves to communicate in
nature. Whales, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, elephants, and alligators all use infrasound to
communicate across impressive distances – sometimes hundreds of miles!
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Properties of sound

 How can we tell the difference between ambulance and police sirens?
 The following properties of sound can be of great help;

a) The Pitch:
 The pitch of a sound or musical note is subjective judgement of its highness or
lowness.
 It is determined primarily by its frequency; a high pitch corresponds to a high
frequency and a low pitch to a low frequency. (Therefore, it is the perception of the
frequency of a sound).
 A high-pitched sound causes molecules to rapidly oscillate, while a low-pitched
sound causes slower oscillation.
 Pitch can only be determined when a sound has a frequency that is clear and
consistent enough to differentiate it from noise.
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c). Timbre of sound.

 This is the quality of sound wave, also known as the tone color.
 It is a way of knowing the origin of sound wave.
 Sounds with various timbres produce different wave shapes, which affect our
interpretation of the sound. For instance, the sound produced by a piano has a different
tone color than the sound from a guitar.
 In physics, we refer to this as the timbre of a sound. It’s what allows humans to quickly
identify sounds (e.g. a cat’s meow, running water, the sound of a friend’s voice e.t.c).
 Sound phenomena
 Being a wave, sound can be described by the following properties:
 Reflection: This is the ‘bouncing’ off of sound wave when it meets/strikes an obstacle. The
reflected sound wave is known as an echo.
 Refraction: This is the bending (change in direction), of the sound waves as they pass from
one region into a region where the air density is different. The effect is similar to what
would happen if the sound passed into another medium. For instance, Sound travels more
slowly in the cool air near the water surface than in the upper, warmer air. As a result, the
waves are refracted, or bent
downward. This bending increases the intensity of the sound at a distance where it
otherwise might not be heard.

 Diffraction: This is the ‘spread out’ of sound waves into different directions. This direction
change is different from that of refraction, in which no obstacle causes the bending or
‘spreading’.
 Interference
 Like waves of any kind, sound waves interfere when they meet. Suppose that two
loudspeakers separated by some distance emit sound waves in phase at the same
frequency. If we consider the speakers to be point sources, then the waves will
spread out spherically and interfere ( see Fig. below). The lines from a particular
speaker represent wave crests (or condensations), and the troughs (or rarefactions)
lie in the intervening white areas.
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 Total constructive interference: This is a case where two waves meet in a region where
they are exactly in phase (two crests or two troughs coincide) and at some point they
have the same motion.
 Total destructive interference: A case where the waves meet such that the crest of one
coincides with the trough of the other and the two waves will cancel each other out.
 Another interesting interference effect occurs when two tones of nearly the
same frequency (f1=f2) are sounded simultaneously. The ear senses pulsations
in loudness known as beats. The human ear can detect as many as seven beats per
second.
 When two sound waves that differ in frequency interfere, beats are created with a beat
frequency, (frequency of beats produced by sound waves that differ in frequency), that
is equal to the absolute value of the difference in the frequencies. Mathematically, we
can show beat frequency as;
 Doppler Effect (D.E)
 This is the apparent change in frequencies when the source of wave (sound) and
the observer (detector/ listener) are in relative motion. (apparent change in
frequency of a wave due to the relative motion between the source of waves and
the observer).
 Simply, an alteration in the observed frequency of a sound due to the motion of
either the source or the observer.
 Perhaps you have noticed how the sound of a vehicle’s horn changes as the vehicle
moves past you. The frequency of the sound you hear as the vehicle approaches
you is higher than the frequency you hear as it moves away from you. This is one
example of the Doppler effect.
 There are various relative motion cases which we must take a look at, namely (i)
source fixed with observer moving (approaching or away), (ii) source moving with
observer fixed and (iii) both the source and observer moving.
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Case I (Source is fixed-Observer moving)

a) A source is fixed and the observer is approaching (moving towards the source)
 An observer O (the cyclist) moves with a speed vO toward a stationary point
source S, the horn of a parked car. The observer hears a frequency f’ that is greater than
the source frequency.
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 We take the frequency of the source to be f, the wavelength to be , and the speed of sound in air
to be v (340m/s). When the observer moves toward the source,
the speed of the waves relative to the observer is;

but the wavelength is unchanged. Hence we use the equation;

and we can say that the frequency heard by the observer (apparent frequency) is increased and is
given by
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b). A source if fixed and observer is moving away.

 If the observer is moving away from the source, the speed of the wave relative to the
observer is

 Therefore, The frequency heard by the observer (apparent frequency) in this case is
decreased and is given by
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 In general, whenever an observer moves with a speed vO relative to a stationary

source, the frequency heard by the observer is

where the positive sign is used when the observer moves toward the source and the
negative sign is used when the observer moves away from the source.
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 Worked example
A train going 40 m/s approaches a crossing bell whose frequency is 820 Hz.
a. What frequency is heard by passengers in the approaching train?
b. What frequency is heard by passengers after the train passes the bell?
Solutions
a. =(1+40/340)820=916.5 Hz

b. =(1-40/340)820=723.5 Hz
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Case II (Source moving-observer fixed)
 Now consider the situations in which the source is in motion and the observer is at rest.

 A source S moving with a speed Vs toward a stationary observer A and away from a
stationary observer B. Observer A hears an increased frequency, and
observer B hears a decreased frequency.
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a) Source moving toward (approaching) a stationary observer.
 If the source moves directly toward observer A in Figure above, the wave
fronts heard by the observer are closer together than they would be if the source were not moving.
As a result, the wavelength measured by observer A is shorter than the wavelength of the source
(that is, the wavelength is shortened and the observed frequency is increased whenever the
source is moving toward the observer).
 The observed wavelength is therefore given as;

 Thus, the apparent frequency will be obtained as

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b). Source moving away from a fixed (stationary) observer.

 When the source moves away from a stationary observer, as is the case for observer B
in the Figure above, the observer measures a wavelength that is greater than the
source’s wavelength and hears a decreased frequency:

 Combining the Equations above, we can express the general relationship

for the observed frequency when a source is moving and an observer is at rest as
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 Worked example
A train approaching a station at a speed of 34 m/s sounds a 200 Hz whistle.
i. What is the apparent frequency heard by an observer standing at the station?
ii. What is the change in frequency heard as the train passes by?
Solutions
i) Observer is fixed, Source is approaching; ( apply the right formula)
f’=(1/(1-(Vs/V))f =(1/(1-(34/340))200 Hz=200/0.9=2,222.22 Hz
ii) Train passes by (source moving away) and O still fixed
f’=(1/(1+(Vs/v))f=(1/(1+(34/340))200 Hz=200/1.1=1,818.2 Hz.
Thus the change in frequency will be (2,222.22-1,818.22)
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Case III (Both the source and observer moving)
a) When both are approaching each other

b) When both are moving away from each other

c) When both are moving in the same direction

 Finally, if both source and observer are in motion, we find the following general
relationship for the observed frequency:
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 Worked example
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More quiz…
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 An automobile passes by an a street blowing its horn. A music student standing on the
sidewalk observes that the pitch of the horn drops a musical third, that is, the frequency
heard after it passes is only 27/32 of the frequency heard when it was approaching.
Taking v=340 m/s, calculate the speed of the car in m/s, also give your answer in units of
km/s and km/h.
 If you move at 18 m/s toward a 2300 Hz source that is moving toward you with a ground
speed of 30 m/s, what frequency do you hear?
 A trailer truck travelling east at 28 m/s sounds a 1000 Hz horn. (a) what frequency is heard
by an approaching driver heading west at 38 m/s? (b) what frequency is heard if the
approaching observer is also headed east?
 Suppose the car is parked on the side of the highway as the ambulance speeds by. What
frequency does the person in the car hear as the ambulance (a) approaches and (b)
recedes? (a. 443 Hz, b. 364 Hz)