Module 14 Flashcards
1a. define: transverse wave
a wave with a direction of propagation that is perpendicular to its direction of oscillation
1b. define: longitudinal wave
a wave with a direction of propagation that is parallel to its direction of oscillation
1c. define: supersonic speed
any speed that is faster than the speed of sound in the substance of interest
1d. define: sonic boom
the sound produced as a result of an object traveling at or above Mach 1
1e. define: pitch
an indication of how high or low a sound is, which is primarily determined by the frequency of the sound wave
- In designing a car’s horn, the engineers test the sound of the horn and decide that its pich is too low. To adjust the horn, should the engineers change the electronics so as to produce sound waves with longer or shorter wavelengths?
the engineers need to adjust the electronics to emit sound waves with a shorter wavelength
- A sound wave is traveling through the air with a temperature of 30 degrees C. What is the speed of the sound wave?
v=349.5 m/sec
- If the sound wave in problem #3 have a wavelength of 0.5 meters, what is its frequency?
699 Hz
- A soundwave has a speed of 345 m/sec and a wavelength of 500 meters. is this wave infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic?
infrasonic wave
- A physicist takes an alarm clock and puts it in an airtight chamber. When the chamber is sealed by still full of air, the physicist is able to hear the alarm despite the fact that he is outside of the chamber. If the physicist then uses a vacuum pump to evacuate essentially all the air out of the chamber, will the physicist still able to hear the alarm? Why or why not?
The physicist will not be able to hear the alarm because, without air, the sound waves from the alarm have nothing through which to travel. Thus, they cannot make waves. As a result, there is no sound.
- Are sound waves transverse waves or longitudinal waves?
sounds are longitudinal waves
- You are watching the lightning from a thunderstorm. You suddenly see a flash of lightning, and 2.3 seconds later, you hear the thunder. How far away from you did the lightning strike? (the temperature at the time is 13 degrees Celsius)
780.39 m
- Sound waves are traveling through the air and suddenly run into a wall. As the sound waves travel through the wall, do they travel faster, slower, or at the same speed as when they were traveling in the air?
the sound travels faster in the wall
- In the situation described in #9, what happens to the amplitude of the wave? Is the amplitude of the wave smaller, larger or the same as the amplitude before the wave hit the wall?
the amplitude of the wave will be smaller
- A jet aircraft is traveling at mach 2.5 through air at 1 degree Celsius. What is the jets speed in m/sec?
830.25 m/sec