Lecture 7

Sound Waves
Introduction to Sound Waves
 Sound waves are longitudinal waves
 They travel through any material
medium
 The speed of the wave depends on the
properties of the medium
 The mathematical description of
sinusoidal sound waves is very similar
to sinusoidal waves on a string
Categories of Sound Waves
 The categories cover different frequency
ranges
 Audible waves are within the sensitivity of
the human ear
 Range is approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz
 Infrasonic waves have frequencies below
the audible range
 Ultrasonic waves have frequencies above
the audible range
Speed of Sound Waves
 Speed of Sound Waves, cont
 When the piston comes to
rest, the compression
region of the gas
continues to move
 This corresponds to a
longitudinal pulse traveling
through the tube with
speed v
 The speed of the piston is
not the same as the speed
of the wave
Periodic Sound Waves
 A sound wave may
be considered either
a displacement wave
or a pressure wave
 The pressure wave
is 90o out of phase
with the
displacement wave
 The pressure is a
maximum when the
displacement is zero, etc.
Speed of Sound Waves, General
 The speed of sound waves in a medium
depends on the compressibility and the
density of the medium
 The compressibility can sometimes be
expressed in terms of the elastic modulus
of the material
 The speed of all mechanical waves follows
a general form: elastic property
v
inertial property
Speed of Sound in Liquid or Gas
 The bulk modulus of the material is B
 The density of the material is r
 The speed of sound in that medium is
B
v
r
 Speed of Sound in a Solid Rod
 The Young’s modulus of the material is Y
 The density of the material is r
 The speed of sound in the rod is

Y
v
r
Speed of Sound in Air
 The speed of sound also depends on the
temperature of the medium
 This is particularly important with gases
 For air, the relationship between the speed
and temperature is
TC
v  (331 m/s) 1 
273 C
 The 331 m/s is the speed at 0o C
 TC is the air temperature in Celsius
Periodic Sound Waves
 A sound wave may
be considered either
a displacement wave
or a pressure wave
 The pressure wave
is 90o out of phase
with the
displacement wave
 The pressure is a
maximum when the
displacement is zero, etc.
 Periodic Sound Waves, cont
 As the regions travel through the tube, any small
element of the medium moves with simple
harmonic motion parallel to the direction of the
wave
 The harmonic position function is
s (x, t) = smax cos (kx – wt)
 smax is the maximum position from the equilibrium
position
 This is also called the displacement amplitude of
the wave
Periodic Sound Waves,
Pressure
 The variation in gas pressure, DP, is
also periodic
DP = DPmax sin (kx – wt)
 DPmax is the pressure amplitude
 It is also given by DPmax = rvwsmax
 k is the wave number (in both
equations)
 w is the angular frequency (in both
equations)
Intensity of a Periodic Sound
Wave
 The intensity I of a wave is defined as
the power per unit area
 This is the rate at which the energy being
transported by the wave transfers through
a unit area, A, perpendicular to the
direction of the wave

I
A
Intensity of a Point Source
 A point source will emit sound waves
equally in all directions
 This results in a spherical wave
 Identify an imaginary sphere of radius r
centered on the source
 The power will be distributed equally
through the area of the sphere
 Problem
A point source emits sound waves with an average
power output of 80 W.
 Find the intensity at 3.0 m away from the source.

 Find the distance at which the intensity of the sound

is 1.0 x 10-8 W/m2
Solution
 Sound Level
 The range of intensities detectible by the
human ear is very large
 It is convenient to use a logarithmic scale
to determine the Sound level, b
 I 
b  10log  
 Io 
 Sound Level, cont
 I0 is called the reference intensity
 It is taken to be the threshold of hearing
 I0 = 1.00 x 10-12 W/ m2
 I is the intensity of the sound whose level is to be
determined
 b is in decibels (dB)
 Threshold of pain: I = 1.00 W/m2; b = 120 dB
 Threshold of hearing: I0 = 1.00 x 10-12 W/ m2 ; b = 0
dB
Problem
 What is the sound level that
corresponds to an intensity of
2.0 x 10-7 W/m2 ?

b = 10 log (2.0 x 10-7 W/m2 / 1.0 x

10-12 W/m2) = 10 log 2.0 x 105 = 53 dB
Sound Levels
The Doppler Effect
 The Doppler effect is the apparent
change in frequency (or wavelength)
that occurs because of motion of the
source or observer of a wave
 When the relative speed of the source and
observer is higher than the speed of the
wave, the frequency appears to increase
 When the relative speed of the source and
observer is lower than the speed of the
wave, the frequency appears to decrease
The Doppler Effect
 Doppler Effect, Observer Moving
 The observer moves with
a speed of vo
 Assume a point source
that remains stationary
relative to the air
 It is convenient to
represent the waves with
a series of circular arcs
concentric to the source
 These surfaces are called a
wave front
Doppler Effect, Observer
Moving, cont
 The distance between adjacent wave
fronts is the wavelength
 The speed of the sound is v, the
frequency is ƒ, and the wavelength is l
 When the observer moves toward the
source, the speed of the waves relative
to the observer is v ’ = v + vo
 The wavelength is unchanged
Doppler Effect,
Moving Observer
 The frequency heard by the observer, ƒ ’,
appears higher when the observer
approaches the source
 v  vo 
ƒ'   ƒ
 v 
 The frequency heard by the observer, ƒ ’,
appears lower when the observer moves
away from the source
 v  vo 
ƒ'   ƒ
 v 
Doppler Effect,
Moving Source
 Consider the source
being in motion while
the observer is at rest
 As the source moves
toward the observer,
the wavelength
appears shorter
 As the source moves
away, the wavelength
appears longer
Doppler Effect,
Moving Source
Doppler Effect, Source
Moving, cont
 When the source is moving toward the
observer, the apparent frequency is higher
 v 
ƒ'   ƒ
 v  vs 
 When the source is moving away from the
observer, the apparent frequency is lower
 v 
ƒ'   ƒ
 v  vs 
Doppler Effect, General
 Combining the motions of the observer and
the source
 v  vo 
ƒ'   ƒ
 v  vs 
 The signs depend on the direction of the
velocity
 A positive value is used for motion of the observer
or the source toward the other
 A negative sign is used for motion of one away
from the other
Doppler Effect, Water Example
 A point source
is moving to
the right
 The wave
fronts are
closer on the
right
 The wave
fronts are
farther apart
on the left
Problem
Sub A (source) travels at 8.00 m/s
emitting at a frequency of 1400 Hz, the
speed of sound is 1533 m/s
Sub B (observer) travels at 9.00 m/s

What is the apparent frequency heard by

the observer as the subs approach each
other? Then as they recede from each
other?
Doppler Effect, Submarine
Example cont
 Approaching each other:
 v  vo   1533 m s   9.00 m s  
ƒ'    ƒ    (1400 Hz )
 v  vs   1533 m s   8.00 m s  
 1416 Hz

 Receding from each other:

 v  vo   1533 m s   9.00 m s  
ƒ'    ƒ    (1400 Hz )
 v  vs   1533 m s   8.00 m s  
 1385 Hz
Shock Wave
 The speed of the
source can exceed
the speed of the
wave
 The envelope of
these wave fronts is
a cone whose apex
half-angle is given
by sin q  v/vS
 This is called the
Mach angle
Shock Wave, final
 The conical wave front
produced when vs > v is
known as a shock wave
 This is supersonic
 The shock wave carries a
great deal of energy
concentrated on the
surface of the cone
 There are correspondingly
great pressure variations
Elasticity
 So far we have assumed that objects
remain rigid when external forces act
on them
 Except springs
 Actually, objects are deformable
 It is possible to change the size and/or
shape of the object by applying external
forces
 Internal forces resist the deformation
Definitions Associated With
Deformation
 Stress
 Is proportional to the force causing the
deformation
 It is the external force acting on the object
per unit area
 Strain
 Is the result of a stress
 Is a measure of the degree of deformation
Elastic Modulus, cont
 The elastic modulus in general relates
what is done to a solid object to how
that object responds
stress
elastic mod ulus 
strain
 Various types of deformation have
unique elastic moduli
Three Types of Moduli
 Young’s Modulus
 Measures the resistance of a solid to a
change in its length
 Bulk Modulus
 Measures the resistance of solids or liquids
to changes in their volume
 Shear Modulus
 Measures the resistance to motion of the
planes within a solid parallel to each other
 Young’s Modulus
 The bar is stretched
by an amount DL
under the action of
the force F
 The tensile stress is
the ratio of the
external force to the
cross-sectional area A
Young’s Modulus, cont
 The tension strain is the ratio of the
change in length to the original length
 Young’s modulus, Y, is the ratio of
those two ratios:
tensile stress F
Y  A
tensile strain DL
Li

 Units are N / m2
Bulk Modulus
 Another type of
deformation occurs
when a force of uniform
magnitude is applied
perpendicularly over the
entire surface of the
object
 The object will undergo
a change in volume, but
not in shape
Bulk Modulus, final
 The bulk modulus is the ratio of the
volume stress to the volume strain
DF
B
volume stress
 A   DP
volume strain DV DV
Vi Vi

 The negative indicates that an increase

in pressure will result in a decrease in
volume