Sound is type of longitudinal wave.

In general majority of longitudinal waves are termed as sound waves.

Sound is produced by a vibrating source, like when a gong of a bell is

struck with a hammer, sound is produced. The vibrations produced by
gong are propagated through air, Through air these vibrations reach to
the ear and ear drum is set into vibrations and these vibrations are
communicated to human brain.

By touching the gong of bell by hand, we can feel the vibrations.

Vibrating source such as guitar string, the human vocal cords, the
prongs of a tuning fork or the diaphragm of a loudspeaker

Being a mechanical waves, sound needs a medium having properties of

inertia and elasticity for its propagation.

Sound waves propagate in any medium through a series of periodic

compressions and rarefactions of pressure, which is produced by the
vibrating source.
Consider a tuning fork producing sound waves
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Equation of Longitudinal Wave
Equation of Longitudinal Wave
Velocity and Acceleration of particle
VELOCITY OF SOUND/LONGITUDINAL WAVES IN SOLIDS
Newton's Formula for velocity of Sound in Gases

Newton assumed that during sound propagation temperature of medium

remains constant hence the stated that propagation of sound in a
gaseous medium is an isothermal phenomenon, thus Boyle's law can be
applied in the process.
But the experimental value of velocity of sound determined from various
experiments gives the velocity of sound at NTP, 332 m/s. Therefore there
is a difference of about 52 m/s between the theoretical and experimental
values. This large difference can not be attributed to the experimental
errors. Newton was unable to explain error in his formula. This correction
was explained by a French Scientist Laplace.
Laplace Correction
There is compression and rarefaction in the particles of medium. Where
there is compression, particles come near to each other and are heated
up, where there is rarefaction, medium expends and there is fall of
temperature. Therefore, the temperature of medium at every point does
not remain constant so the process of sound propagation is not
isothermal. The total quantity of heat of the system as a whole remains
constant. medium does not gain or lose any heat to the surrounding.
Thus in a gaseous medium sound propagation is an adiabatic process
Effect of Temperature on Velocity of Sound
Effect of Pressure on Velocity of Sound
Effect of Humidity on Velocity of Sound

The density of water vapour at NTP is 0.8 kg/m3 whereas the density of
dry air at NTP is 1.293 kg/m3 . Therefore water vapour has a density less
than the density of dry air. As atmospheric pressure remains
approximately same, the velocity of sound is more in moist air then the
velocity of sound in dry air

Vmoist air > V dry air

Effect of Wind on Velocity of Sound
FREQUENCY

Each cycle of a sound wave includes one compression and one

rarefaction, and frequency is the number of cycles per second that
passes by a given location. This is normally equal to the frequency of
vibration of the (tuning fork) source producing sound.

If the source, vibrates in SHM of a single frequency, sound produced has

a single frequency and it is called a pure tone.
However a sound source may not always vibrate in SHM (this is the case
with most of the common sound sources e.g. guitar string, human vocal
card, surface of drum etc.) and hence the pulse generated by it may not
have the shape of a sine wave. But even such a pulse may be considered
to be obtained by superposition of a large number of sine waves of
different frequency and amplitudes. We say that the pulse contain all
these frequencies.
AUDIBLE FREQUENCY RANGE FOR HUMAN :

A normal person hears all frequencies between 20 & 20 KHz. This is a

subjective range (obtained experimentally) which may vary slightly from
person to person.

The ability to hear the high frequencies decreases with age and a
middle-age person can hear only upto 12 to 14 KHz.
INFRASONIC SOUND :

Sound can be generated with frequency below 20 Hz called infrasonic

sound.

ULTRASONIC SOUND :

Sound can be generated with frequency above 20 kHz called ultrasonic

sound.

Even through humans cannot hear these frequencies, other animals may.
For instance Rhinos communicate through infrasonic frequencies as low
as 5Hz, and bats use ultrasonic frequencies as high as 100 KHz for
navigating
PITCH :
Frequency as we have discussed till now is an objective property
measured its units is Hz and which can be assigned a unique value.
However a person’s perception of frequency is subjective.

The brain interprets frequency primarily in terms of a subjective quality

called Pitch. A pure note of high frequency is interpreted as high-pitched
sound and a pure note of low frequency as low-pitched sound

Pitch of a sound is that sensation by which we differentiate a buffalo

voice, a male voice and a female voice. We say that a buffalo voice is of
low pitch, a male voice has higher pitch and a female voice has still
higher pitch. This sensation primarily depends on the dominant
frequency present in the sound. Higher the frequency, higher will be the
pitch and vice versa.
A wave of wavelength 4 mm is produced in air and it travels at a speed of
300 m/s. Will it be audible ?
Loudness and Intensity

The loudness that we sense is related to the intensity of sound though it

is not directly proportional to it. Our perception of loudness is better
correlated with the sound level measured in decibels (dB)

The ability of human to perceive intensity at different frequency is

different. The perception of intensity is maximum at 1000 Hz and
perception of intensity decreases as the frequency decreases or
increases from 1000 Hz.

For a 1000 Hz tone, the smallest sound intensity that a human ear can
detect is 10–12 watt./m2 . On the other hand, continuous exposure to
intensities above 1W/m2 can result in permanent hearing loss.
The overall perception of intensity of sound to human ear is called
loudness.

Human ear do not perceives loudness on a linear intensity scale rather it

perceives loudness on logarithmic intensity scale.

If intensity is increased 10 times human ear does not perceive 10 times

increase in loudness. It roughly perceived that loudness is doubled
where intensity increased by 10 times. Hence it is prudent to define a
logarithmic scale for intensity.
If the intensity is increased by a factor of 20, by how many decibels is the
intensity level increased.
How many times the pressure amplitude is increased if sound level is
increased by 40 dB ?
Standing Waves in Longitudinal Waves ( Self Learning- Analogous to
string waves)
Organ pipes are musical instruments that blow air into the pipe to
produce musical sound. Longitudinal stationary waves result from the
superimposition of the incident and reflected longitudinal waves.

VIBRATION OF AIR COLUMNS

End Correction
Beats

When two sources of sound that have almost the same frequency are
sounded together, an interesting phenomenon occurs.

A sound with a frequency average of the two is heard and the loudness
of sound repeatedly grows and then decays, rather than being constant.

Such a repeated variation in amplitude of sound are called 'beats".

IMPORTANT POINTS :
(i) The frequency |f1 – f2| should be less than 16 Hz, for it to be audible.

(ii) Beat phenomenon can be used for determining an unknown

frequency by sounding it together with a source of known frequency.

(iii) If the arm of a tuning fork is waxed or loaded, then its frequency
decreases.

(iv) If arm of tuning fork is filled, then its frequency increases.

A tuning fork is vibrating at frequency 100 Hz. When another tuning fork
is sounded simultaneously, 4 beats per second are heard. When some
mass is added to the tuning fork of 100 Hz, beat frequency decreases.
Find the frequency of the other tuning fork.
Two strings X and Y of a sitar produces a beat of frequency 4Hz. When
the tension of string Y is slightly increased, the beat frequency is found
to be 2Hz. If the frequency of X is 300Hz, then the original frequency of Y
was. (A) 296 Hz (B) 298 Hz (C) 302 Hz (D) 304 Hz.
A string 25 cm long fixed at both ends and having a mass of 2.5 g is
under tension. A pipe closed from one end is 40 cm long. When the string
is set vibrating in its first overtone and the air in the pipe in its
fundamental frequency, 8 beats per second are heard. It is observed that
decreasing the tension in the string decreases the beat frequency. If the
speed of sound in air is 320 m/s. Find tension in the string