Longitudinal Waves

Longitudinal Waves (Sound Waves)
Definiton:
“The molecules of medium oscillate parallel to the direction of wave motion”.
Production of Sound Waves
1. Sound waves are produced when objects vibrate in a medium.
2. Sound waves are longitudinal waves which require a medium for propagation.
Representation of sound Wave:
Note:
 Sound travels in the form of compression’s (C) & Rarefaction’s (R).
 The distance between two consecutive compression’s or rarefactions is equal to ‘λ’.
Compression: (C)
“Compression is the point at which the molecules travel towards each other from both
sides”.
The pressure or molecules density at compression increases.
Rarefaction: (R)
“Rarefaction is the point at which the molecules travel away from each other on both
sides”.
The pressure or molecules density at compression decrease.
Sound Needs Medium For Propagation:
The bell jar experiment is a common experiment used to demonstrate that sound needs a
medium to travel.
The experiment is done by placing an electrical bell in the bell jar. As the air is pumped out
of the sealed bell jar, the sound from the bell jar fades. At a particular vacuum, no more
sound is heard from the bell, but we can see that the hammer continues hitting the gong
and sound is produced.
This demonstrates that the sound wave cannot travel through vacuum.
Measuring Sound Speed (In Air):
Note:
As we know;
v=fλ f = frequency of vibrating body
The problem is measurement of ‘λ’, as we can’t see the sound wave.
So by following experiment we measure the sound speed.
Gun – Shot Method:
Method:
1. A gunman and a timer can stand apart from each other in an open field at a known
distance d.
2. The gunman will fire a pistol into the air. The timer will start his stopwatch upon
seeing
the flash of the pistol and stop the stopwatch when he hears the sound of the pistol.
The
time interval is recorded as Δt.
3. The speed of sound is calculated as:
v = d/Δt
4. The approximate speed of sound in air is about 330 m/s.
Note:
Since the human reaction time is about 2/3 of a second, d has to be sufficiently large for
the experiment to be accurate.
Sources Of Errors:
The main two sources are;
i. Reaction time: To reduce it the experiment is repeated many times and average
time is measured.
ii. Wind Speed: If the wind is blowing in the direction of timer the measured sound
speed will be more than the average value vice versa. (Elimination is
not in syllabus)
Factors that affect the speed:
i. Temperature:
The sound speed increases with increase in temperature. As the molecules have move
kinetic energy, so the quickly transfer the sound energy.
ii. Pressure:
It doesn’t affect the sound speed. (Explanation in not in syllabus).
Note: (Recall)
Speed of sound in air = 330 ms-1
Speed of sound in liquids = 1500 ms-1
Speed of sound in solids = 5000 ms-1
Characteristics Of Sound
We study about the following three characteristics.
1. Loudness:
The loudness of sound depends upon the amplitude of vibrating body.
Lager the amplitude louder is the sound.
Like the loose skin drum produces louder sound than the tight skin drum.
2. Pitch:
By pitch we can distinguish between the shrill and grave sound.
Pitch depends upon the frequency of the vibrating body. More the frequency higher is
the pitch.
Like tight skin drum has high pitch than loose skin drum.
Note:
From the equation, v = fλ, since v = constant
1
So fα λ
This means shorter ‘λ’ lead to higher ‘f’, which leads to higher pitch and vice versa.
1
Also fα T
So when period ‘T’ increases, ‘f’ decrease and so leads to lower pitch and vice versa.
3. Quality or Timber:
Quality of a sound is that characteristic which distinguishes the two sounds of the same
loudness and same pitch but emitted by two different instruments.
Even if the sounds of two objects have the same frequency and similar wavelength, they
are different.
Example:
The sound produced by a guitar and a sitar. Even if both have the same frequency (i.e.
pitch) and loudness (i.e. amplitude), but still one can easily distinguish between the two
sounds without looking at the instruments.
Note:
The quality of sound depends upon the wave form.
Echo:
“It is the hearing back of the sound after reflection from the boundary”.
Just like the sensation of sound which persist on our retina for about 1/16 th of a second,
the sound sensation lasts of 1/10th of a second. If the reflected sound takes more than
1/10th of second than it will be differentiated from the original sound and becomes an
echo.
Minimum distance for echo:
As,
v = s/t
For echo s = 2d. where; d = one sided distance source from obstacle.
v = 2d/t
2d = v x t
v xt
d= 2 put v = 330 ms-1 & t = 1/10 s
330
d = 2 x 10 = 16.5 m
Measuring Sound Speed By Echo
Procedure:
1. Measure the distance from the wall to the clapper by measuring tape.
2. Coincides clap with the echo from the wall.
3. Stat counting the claps and measure total time (T) for say 50 claps.
4. Hence calculate the time ‘t’ interval between the two claps. (t = 50/T)
5. Finally find the speed using formula
2d
v= t
Ultrasound
1. Ultrasound is the sound with frequencies that are greater than 20 000 Hz.
2. The audible range of sound for humans is between 20 Hz and 20 000 Hz.
Hence humans cannot hear ultrasound.
3. Some applications of ultrasound:
(a) Pre-natal scan to check the development of babies in womb.
(b) Used by ships to find depth of seabed.
Note: (imp)
The sound is sent in the form of pulse. The time between sending and receiving the
pulses are recorded, than the depth is measured by using formula
2d
v = ∆t where d = one sided distance
& v = sound speed in given medium

v x∆t
d= 2

Longitudinal Waves

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