SOUND

Concepts
In text and textual questions
 Sound is a form of energy which produces a sensation of hearing in our ears.
How is a sound produced?
A sound is produced when an object vibrates, that is they move in a ‘ to-and-fro’ motion.
For instance,
 When we strike a tuning fork or a stretched rubber band, it vibrates and produces
sound.
 The human voice is produced because of the vibration of the vocal cords.
 String instruments produce sound as their strings vibrate.
 When a bird flaps its wings a sound is produced.
 A flute produces sound because the air column of the flute vibrates as air passes
through it.
How does sound travel?
 In order to propagate, sound requires a medium through which it can travel.
This medium could be a gas, liquid or solid.
 Sound propagates in a medium as the particles of the medium vibrate from a starting
point. This means that sound always has a starting point and an ending point.
 For instance, while you talk to a friend, as you speak, the particles in the air get
displaced due to the pressure caused by the sound you produce. They then displace
the adjacent particles and so on. In this way, sound travels from your place to your
friend’s ears.
 Therefore, we can say that the particles of a medium do not travel from one point one
another in order to propagate sound. Sound propagates because of the disturbance
caused by a source of sound in the medium.

Sound travels through a medium

What is a wave?
 A wave is a disturbance produced in a medium as the particles of the medium
vibrate.
 The particles produce motion in each other without moving forward or backwards.
 This leads to the propagation of sound.
 Hence sound is often called a Wave.
How can sound travel through air?
 When an object vibrates in the air or produces a sound, some regions of high
pressure are created in front of it. These are called the Regions of Compression.
These regions of compression move forward in the medium as particles exert
pressure on their adjacent particles.
 With alternate regions of compression, there are also regions of low pressure that are
in its front. These are called Regions of Rarefaction.
 As the object would move forwards and backwards consecutively producing sound,
the series of compressions and rarefactions will be created. This will allow sound to
move through air or any other medium as well.
 If the medium is dense the pressure exerted on the particles will be more in order to
propagate the sound and vice versa.
 Therefore, we can also say that propagation of sound is all about change in the
pressure of the medium.

Sound wave causing compression (C) and rarefaction (R)

What are mechanical waves?
A wave that is produced when objects of the medium oscillate is called Mechanical
Wave. The sound waves are therefore, mechanical waves.
Types of Waves
 Sound cannot travel through the vacuum as it always needs a medium to propagate.
The vacuum contains no air hence no particles can propagate sound.
Longitudinal waves - Any wave that vibrates in the direction of the motion is called
a Longitudinal Wave. Sound waves are longitudinal because the particles of the
medium vibrate in the direction which is parallel to the direction of the propagation of
the sound waves. The particles in the medium oscillate to and fro in the case of
longitudinal waves.

Transverse Waves - A transverse wave is produced when the particles of the medium
oscillate in a direction which is perpendicular to the direction of the propagation of the
wave. The particles in a transverse wave oscillate in an up and down motion. For
Example, light waves are transverse in nature.

Longitudinal vs. Transverse Waves

 A sound wave is characterized by three factors:
 Amplitude
 Frequency
 Speed
 Characteristics of Sound
The compression region is represented by the upper part of the wave
curve.
Compression (C)
It is a region where particles cluster together.
The density, as well as pressure, is always high in this region.
A rarefactions is represented by the lower part of the wave curve.
Rarefaction (R) It is a region where the particles separate out.
Rarefactions region always has lower pressure.
Crest It is the peak of the curve
Trough It is the crust of the curve
The distance between two consecutive compressions or rarefactions is
Wavelength (λ) called Wavelength.
SI unit: metre (m)
The number of oscillations per unit time is called the Frequency of a
Wave (Number of compressions + the number of rarefactions per unit
Frequency (f)
time)
SI unit: Hertz (Hz)
The time taken between two consecutive compressions or rarefactions to
cross a fixed point is called Time Period of the Wave.
Time Period (T) In other words, the time taken for one complete oscillation through a
medium is called a Time Period.
SI unit: second (s)
The relationship
between
f = 1/T
frequency and
time period
 Pitch of a sound depends upon:
1. the frequency of the sound
2. size of the object producing the sound
3. type of the object producing the sound

Pitch

The value of the maximum or minimum disturbance caused in the medium

is called the Amplitude of the Sound.
Amplitude defines if the sound is loud or soft.

Amplitude

The timbre or quality of sound is a characteristic with which we can

Timber differentiate between different sounds even if they have same pitch and
amplitude.
Tone The sound which has single frequency throughout is called a Tone.
A sound with more than one frequency is called a Note. It is pleasant to
Note
listen
It is an unpleasant sound.

Noise

Music It is a sound which is pleasant and has rich quality

 The distance by which a compression or rarefactions of a wave travels per
unit time is called as Sound’s Speed.
The Speed of
SI unit: metres/seconds
sound (v)
v = wavelength / time = λ/T = λ*F
Speed of Sound in air = 333 m/s
The amount of sound energy that passes through a unit area per second is
Intensity
called its intensity
It is how our ears respond to a sound.
Loudness Two sounds with same intensity can vary in loudness only because we can
detect one sound easier than the other.
 Sound cannot travel at the same speed in different mediums. The speed of sound in
a medium is affected by three things:
 The density of the medium. For instance, speed of sound is the maximum through
solids
 The temperature of the medium. As the temperature increases, the sound
propagates easily.
 Humidity in the air also affects the travel of sound. As the humidity increases, so
does the propagation of sound.
What is a sonic boom?
When an object travels in the air with a speed greater than that of the sound, it
produces a sound with high energy. This energy is loud enough that it can break
glasses or damage the buildings. The sound produced is similar to the sound of an
explosion or thunderclap.
These objects exert a large amount of pressure on the air which causes the production
of shock waves in the air. These shock waves produce extremely large and loud sound
waves which are called Sonic booms.

Sonic Boom
 Speed of light in air = 3 × 10 8 m/s
 Speed of sound in air = 333 m/s
This clearly states that sound travels a lower speed than that of light in air. This is a
reason why at the time of lightening, the light is visible instantly while the sound of the
thunder reaches our ears after a few seconds.
 Sound can bounce off a solid or a liquid. Some materials like metals and walls are
called Good Reflectors of Sound as they do not absorb the sound while others like
clothes and sponge are called Bad Reflectors of Sound as they absorb the sound easily.

Laws of Reflection of Sound

 The incident sound wave, the reflected sound wave and the normal, all lie in the
same plane.

Laws of Reflection of Sound

 The angle of incident of incident sound wave is equal to the angle of reflection
formed by the reflected sound wave, that is, i = r
Echo
When we hear the same sound again and again in a medium it is called Echo. The
sound or echo persists in our brain for 0.1 seconds. This means that the difference
between sound and its echo should be at least 0.1 seconds. It is produced as a result of
reflection of sound through a medium. If sound reflects more than once we may hear
multiple echoes.

Echo
Reverberation
It is the persistence of a sound after a sound is produced. A reverberation is created
when a sound signal is reflected multiple of times until it reaches a sound wave that
cannot be heard by human ears. Auditoriums and big halls often have to deal with
reverberation. That is why the roofs are made up of soundproof materials like Flipboard
and the chairs in the halls are also made up of fabrics that can absorb sound.

Advantages of Multiple Reflection of Sound

 Horns, trumpets, loudhailers or megaphones are designed in such a way that sound
can travel in a particular direction only without spreading out everywhere. This makes
it easier for the audience to listen to the speaker. All these instruments work on the
phenomena of multiple reflections of sound.

Multiple Reflections through a horn and megaphone

 The multiple reflections in a stethoscope tube make it possible for the doctors to
listen to a patient’s heartbeat.
 Concert halls are generally covered so that sound can reflect through it and reach the
wider audience.
The range of sound – on the basis of the range of frequency of a sound, it is
categorized into ultrasound and infrasound.
Human auditory range is between 20 Hz and 20000 Hz.
 Infrasound Ultrasound
Infrasound refers to the sound with frequency Ultrasound refers to the sound with frequency
lower than 20 Hz which can’t be heard by higher than the upper limit (20 kHz) of
humans. frequencies audible to normal human ears.
Ultrasound is commonly used to find flaws in
materials to measure the thickness of objects,
Infrasound is used to stabilize myopia in young
to fund physical abnormalities in various parts
kids.
of human body, as well as in the form of a
sound ranging device called Sonar.
Infrasound is influenced by the atmosphere so Ultrasound is not influenced by any such
it can be used to monitor the activities of the factors.
atmosphere.
In particular, natural disasters such as In particular, ultrasound is also used in micro
volcanic eruptions, earthquakes etc can be welding. The weld is produced by the
forecasted by monitoring the infrasonic waves. application of higher frequency vibratory energy
as the parts are held together with force.

Range of Infrasound and Ultrasounds

Hearing Aid The Hearing Aid contains a microphone which receives the sound from the
outer atmosphere and converts it into electrical energy. This electrical energy is passed
through an amplifier which amplifies the sound and then moves it to a speaker. The
speaker then converts the electrical signal into sound waves and sends it to the ear and
provides a clear hearing.
Applications of Ultrasound
The ultrasound waves are the sound waves with high frequency. Due to this, they can
travel long distances despite any obstacles between their paths.
 The ultrasound waves are used in clearing parts of objects that are hard to reach
such as a spiral tube or electronic components. In order to clean the objects, they are
 put in a solution, then the ultrasonic waves are passed through the solution. As a
result, the dust particles on the object get detached and fall off them.
 Ultrasound waves can recognize tiny cracks in metallic objects that are used in the
manufacture of large structures, buildings and scientific equipment. The presence of
such cracks can lower the strength of these structures and machines. Hence, the
ultrasound waves are passed through the metallic objects and detectors are used to
detect the waves that pass through the cracks. If a crack is present the ultrasound
waves would reflect back.

Ultrasound waves can detect cracks in a metal

 Ultrasonic waves are also used in a medical process called Echocardiography. In
this process, the ultrasound waves are passed through various parts of the heart in
order to form the images of the organ.
 Ultrasonic waves are also used in a procedure called Ultrasonography. In this
procedure, the ultrasonic waves are passed through the internal organs of the body
in order to get their image. In this way, the doctors can find out the cause of a
disease or any abnormalities in the organs. The ultrasound waves travel through the
tissues of the body and as soon as the density of the tissue changes they reflect
back. The reflected waves are then converted into electrical signals which form the
images of the internal organs.
 Ultrasound waves are also used to break the kidney stones.
SONAR – Sound Navigation and Ranging
Sonar
 This device is used to find the distance, direction and speed of objects that are
present under the water. It uses Ultrasonic waves to do so.
 The Sonar consists of two main devices – The transmitter and the detector (or
receiver). The main function of the transmitter is the production and transmission of
the Ultrasonic waves in water.
 As these waves travel underwater, they, when hit by an object, reflect back to the
detector. The detector then converts these sound waves into electrical signals which
are then interpreted.
 The distance of the object is calculated with the help of the speed of soun d in water
and time taken by the way to reach the detector. This process is called Echo
Ranging.
 Uses of Sonar
 Finding the depth of a water body such as sea
 Detecting the presence of underwater objects like submarines, hills, icebergs and
ships
How do bats search their prey?
Bats generate Ultrasonic waves. As these waves hit an object, they get reflected back
to the bat’s ears. The bats can understand the nature of reflection of these waves and
then can decide the position of the object over their prey.

Ultrasonic waves generated by bats

The Human Ear

Structure of Human Ear

Our ears allow us to receive audible frequencies in our surroundings. They then convert
these sounds into electrical signals which are then passed through a special nerve
called the auditory nerve to our brain. The brain that interprets these signals and
responds accordingly.
 Pinna – The outer part of the ear that gathers sound from the environment.
 Auditory Canal – Sound collected from the surroundings passes through the
Auditory Canal.
 Eardrum or Tympanic Membrane – It is located at the end of the auditory canal.
The eardrum when receives a compression moves inwards because of increased
pressure. Similarly, when it receives rarefactions it moves outwards due to a
decrease in pressure. As a result, it starts to vibrate inwards and outwards on
receiving a sound wave.
 The Middle Ear – It consists of three bones (hammer, anvil and stirrup). These
bones amplify the vibrations produced by the eardrum. These vibrations are then
passed onto the inner ear by the middle ear.
 Cochlea – It is located in the inner ear. It converts the vibrations into electrical
signals which are then carried to the brain by the auditory nerve.

In text Questions

1. How does the sound produced by a vibrating object in a medium reach your ear?
Solution:
When an object vibrates, it necessitates the surrounding particles of the medium to vibrate.
The particles that are adjacent to vibrating particles are forced to vibrate. Hence, the sound
produced by a vibrating object in a medium is transferred from particle to particle till it reaches
your ear.

2. Explain how sound is produced by your school bell.

Solution:
When the school bell is hit with a hammer, it moves forward and backwards, producing
compression and rarefaction due to vibrations. This is how sound is produced by the school
bell.

3. Why are sound waves called mechanical waves?

Solution:
Sound waves require a medium to propagate to interact with the particles present in them.
Therefore, sound waves are called mechanical waves.

4. Suppose you and your friend are on the moon. Will you be able to hear any sound
produced by your friend?
Solution:
No. Sound waves require a medium to propagate. Due to the absence of an atmosphere on
the moon and since sound cannot travel in a vacuum, I will not be able to hear any sound
produced by my friend.

5. Which wave property determines (a) loudness, (b) pitch?

Solution:
Amplitude – The loudness of the sound and its amplitude is directly related to each other. The
larger the amplitude, the louder the sound.
Frequency – The pitch of the sound and its frequency is directly related to each other. If the
pitch is high, then the frequency of sound is also high.

6. Guess which sound has a higher pitch: guitar or car horn?

Solution:
The pitch of a sound is directly proportional to its frequency. Therefore, the guitar has a higher
pitch when compared to a car horn.

7. What are the wavelength, frequency, time period and amplitude of a sound wave?
Solution:
Wavelength – Wavelength can be defined as the distance between two consecutive
rarefactions or two consecutive compressions. The SI unit of wavelength is metre (m).
Frequency – Frequency is defined as the number of oscillations per second. The SI unit of
frequency is hertz (Hz).
Amplitude – Amplitude can be defined as the maximum height reached by the trough or crest
of a sound wave.
Time period – The time period is defined as the time required to produce one complete cycle
of a sound wave.

8. How are the wavelength and frequency of a sound wave related to its speed?
Solution:
Wavelength, speed, and frequency are related in the following way:
Speed = Wavelength × Frequency
v=λν
9. Calculate the wavelength of a sound wave whose frequency is 220 Hz and speed is
440 m/s in a given medium.
Solution:
Given that,
Frequency of sound wave = 220 Hz
Speed of sound wave = 440 m/s
Calculate wavelength.
We know that
Speed = Wavelength × Frequency
=λν
440 = Wavelength × 220
Wavelength = 440/220
Wavelength = 2
Therefore, the wavelength of the sound wave = 2m
10. A person is listening to a tone of 500 Hz, sitting at a distance of 450 m from the
source of the sound. What is the time interval between successive compressions from
the source?
Solution:
The time interval between successive compressions from the source is equal to the time
period, and the time period is reciprocal to the frequency. Therefore, it can be calculated as
follows:
T= 1/F
T= 1/500
T = 0.002 s

11. Distinguish between loudness and intensity of sound.

Solution:
The amount of sound energy passing through an area every second is called the intensity of a
sound wave. Loudness is defined by its amplitude.

12. In which of the three media, air, water or iron, does sound travel the fastest at a
particular temperature?
Solution:
Sound travels faster in solids when compared to any other medium. Therefore, at a particular
temperature, sound travels fastest in iron and slowest in gas.

13. An echo is heard in 3 s. What is the distance of the reflecting surface from the
source, given that the speed of sound is 342 ms-1?
Solution:
Speed of sound (v) = 342 ms-1
Echo returns in time (t) = 3 s
Distance travelled by sound = v × t = 342 × 3 = 1026 m
In the given interval of time, sound must travel a distance which is twice the distance between
the reflecting surface and the source.
Therefore, the distance of the reflecting surface from the source =1026/2 = 513 m

14. Why are the ceilings of concert halls curved?

Solution:
The ceilings of concert halls are curved to spread sound uniformly in all directions after
reflecting from the walls.

15. What is the audible range of the average human ear?

Solution:
20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Any sound less than 20 Hz or greater than 20,000 Hz frequency is not
audible to human ears.
16. What is the range of frequencies associated with (a) Infrasound? (b) Ultrasound?
Solution:
(a) 20 Hz
(b) 20,000 Hz

17. A submarine emits a sonar pulse, which returns from an underwater cliff in 1.02 s. If
the speed of sound in salt water is 1531 m/s, how far away is the cliff?
Solution:
Time (t) taken by the sonar pulse to return = 1.02 s
Speed (v) of sound in salt water = 1531 ms-1
Distance travelled by sonar pulse = Speed of sound × Time taken
= 1531 x 1.02
= 1561.62 m
Distance of the cliff from the submarine = (Total distance travelled by sonar pulse) / 2
 = 1561.62 / 2
= 780.81 m.

Exercise
1. What is sound, and how is it produced?
Solution:
Sound is produced due to vibrations. When a body vibrates, it forces the adjacent particles of
the medium to vibrate.
This results in a disturbance in the medium, which travels as waves and reaches the ear.
Hence, the sound is produced.

2. Describe, with the help of a diagram, how compressions and rarefactions are
produced in the air near a source of the sound.
Solution:
When the school bell is hit with a hammer, it moves forward and backwards, producing
compression and rarefaction due to vibrations. When it moves forward, it creates high
pressure in its surrounding area. This high-pressure region is known as compression. When it
moves backwards, it creates a low-pressure region in its surrounding. This region is called
rarefaction.

3. Cite an experiment to show that sound needs a material medium for its propagation.
Solution: Take an electric bell and hang it inside an empty bell jar which is fitted with a
vacuum pump (as shown in the figure below

Initially, one can hear the sound of the ringing bell. Now, pump out some air from the bell jar
using the vacuum pump. You will realise that the sound of the ringing bell decreases. If you
keep on pumping the air out of the bell jar, then the glass jar will be devoid of any air after
some time. Now, try to ring the bell. No sound is heard, but you can see the bell prong is still
vibrating. When there is no air present in the bell jar, a vacuum is produced. Sound cannot
travel through a vacuum. Therefore, this experiment shows that sound needs a material
medium for its propagation.
4. Why is a sound wave called a longitudinal wave?
Solution:
The vibration of the medium that travels parallel to the direction of the wave or along in the
direction of the wave is called a longitudinal wave. The direction of particles of the medium
vibrates parallel to the direction of the propagation of disturbance. Therefore, a sound wave is
called a longitudinal wave.

5. Which characteristics of the sound help you to identify your friend by his voice while
sitting with others in a dark room?
Solution:
Quality of sound is a characteristic that helps us identify the voice of a particular person. Two
people may have the same pitch and loudness, but their qualities will be different.

6. Flash and thunder are produced simultaneously. But thunder is heard a few seconds
after the flash is seen. Why?
Solution:
The speed of sound is 344 m/s, whereas the speed of light is 3 × 108 m/s. The speed of light
is less when compared to that of light. Due to this reason, thunder takes more time to reach
the Earth as compared to light speed, which is faster. Hence, lightning is seen before
whenever we hear thunder.

7. A person has a hearing range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. What are the typical wavelengths
of sound waves in air corresponding to these two frequencies? Take the speed of
sound in air as 344 m s−1.
Solution:
For sound waves,
Speed = Wavelength × frequency
v=λ×v
Speed of sound wave in air = 344 m/s
(a) For v = 20 Hz
λ1 = v/v1 = 344/20 = 17.2 m
(b) For v2 = 20,000 Hz
λ2 = v/v2 = 344/20,000 = 0.0172 m
Therefore, for human beings, the hearing wavelength is in the range of 0.0172 m to 17.2 m.

8. Two children are at opposite ends of an aluminium rod. One strikes the end of the rod
with a stone. Find the ratio of times taken by the sound wave in the air and in aluminium
to reach the second child.
Solution:
Consider the length of the aluminium rod = d
Speed of sound wave at 25° C, in Al = 6420 ms-1
Time taken to reach the other end is,
Time = d/speed
= d/6420
Speed of sound in air = 346 ms-1
Time taken by sound to each other end is,
Time = d/speed = d/346
Therefore, the ratio of time taken by sound in aluminium and air is,
= 6420 / 346
= 18.55

9. The frequency of a source of sound is 100 Hz. How many times does it vibrate in a
minute?
Solution:
Frequency = (Number of oscillations) / Total time
Number of oscillations = Frequency × Total time
Given,
Frequency of sound = 100 Hz
Total time = 1 min (1 min = 60 s)
Number of oscillations or vibrations = 100 × 60 = 6000
The source vibrates 6000 times in a minute and produces a frequency of 100 Hz.

10. Does sound follow the same laws of reflection as light does? Explain.
Solution:
Yes. Sound follows the same laws of reflection as light. The reflected sound wave and the
incident sound wave make an equal angle with the normal to the surface at the point of
incidence. Also, the reflected sound wave, the normal to the point of incidence, and the
incident sound wave all lie in the same plane.

11. When a sound is reflected from a distant object, an echo is produced. Let the
distance between the reflecting surface and the source of sound production remains
the same. Do you hear an echo sound on a hotter day?
Solution:
An echo is heard when the time interval between the reflected sound and the original sound is
at least 0.1 seconds. As the temperature increases, the speed of sound in a medium also
increases. On a hotter day, the time interval between the reflected and original sound will
decrease, and an echo is audible only if the time interval between the reflected sound and the
original sound is greater than 0.1 s.

12. Give two practical applications of the reflection of sound waves.

Solution:
(i) Reflection of sound is used to measure the speed and distance of underwater objects. This
method is called SONAR.
(ii) Working of a stethoscope – The sound of a patient’s heartbeat reaches the doctor’s ear
through multiple reflections of sound.

13. A stone is dropped from the top of a tower 500 m high into a pond of water at the
base of the tower. When is the splash heard at the top? Given, g = 10 m s−2 and speed
of sound = 340 m s−1.
Solution:
Height (s) of tower = 500 m
Velocity (v) of sound = 340 m s−1
Acceleration (g) due to gravity = 10 m s−1
Initial velocity (u) of the stone = 0
Time (t1) taken by the stone to fall to the tower base:
As per the second equation of motion,
s= ut1 + (½) g (t1)2
500 = 0 x t1 + (½) 10 (t1)2
(t1)2 = 100
t1 = 10 s
Time (t2) taken by sound to reach the top from the tower base = 500/340 = 1.47 s
t = t1 + t2
t = 10 + 1.47
t = 11.47 s
14. A sound wave travels at a speed of 339 m s-1. If its wavelength is 1.5 cm, what is the
frequency of the wave?
Will it be audible?
Solution:
Speed (v) of sound = 339 m s−1
Wavelength (λ) of sound = 1.5 cm = 0.015 m
Speed of sound = Wavelength × Frequency
v = λ × frequency
Frequency = v / λ = 339 / 0.015 = 22600 Hz
The frequency of audible sound for human beings lies between the ranges of 20 Hz to 20,000
Hz. The frequency of the given sound is more than 20,000 Hz; therefore, it is not audible.

15. What is reverberation? How can it be reduced?

Solution:
The continuous multiple reflections of sound in a big enclosed space are reverberation. It can
be reduced by covering walls and ceilings of enclosed spaces with the help of sound-
absorbing materials, such as loose woollens and fibre boards.

16. What is the loudness of sound? What factors does it depend on?
Solution:
Loud sounds have high energy. Loudness directly depends on the amplitude of vibrations. It is
proportional to the square of the amplitude of vibrations of sound.

17. Explain how bats use ultrasound to catch prey.

Solution:
Bats have the ability to produce high-pitched ultrasonic squeaks. These squeaks get reflected
by objects, like prey, and return to their ears. This helps a bat to know how far its prey is.

18. How is ultrasound used for cleaning?

Solution:
Objects that need to be cleansed are put in a cleaning solution, and ultrasonic sound waves
are passed through the solution. The high frequency of ultrasound waves helps in detaching
the dirt from the objects. In this way, ultrasound is used for cleaning purposes.

19. Explain the working and application of a sonar.

Solution:
SONAR is an abbreviation for Sound Navigation and Ranging. It is an acoustic device used in
measuring the direction, speed, and depth of underwater objects, such as shipwrecks and
submarines, using ultrasound.
Also, it is used to determine the depth of oceans and seas.
A beam of ultrasonic sound is produced and travels through the seawater, which is transmitted
by the transducer. When it reflects, an echo is produced, which is detected and recorded by
the detector. It is then converted into electrical signals. The distance represented by ‘d’ of the
under-water object is calculated from the time (represented as ‘t’) taken by the echo to return
with speed (represented as ‘v’) is expressed as,
2d = v × t
This method of measuring distance is also referred to as echo-ranging.
20. A sonar device on a submarine sends out a signal and receives an echo 5 s later.
Calculate the speed of sound in water if the distance of the object from the submarine is
3625 m.
Solution:
Time (t) taken to hear the echo = 5 s
Distance (d) of an object from submarine = 3625 m
Total distance travelled by SONAR during reception and transmission in water = 2d
Velocity (v) of sound in water = 2d/t = (2 × 3625) / 5
= 1450 ms-1

21. Explain how defects in a metal block can be detected using ultrasound.
Solution:

Defective metal blocks will not allow ultrasound to pass through them and reflect it back. This
technique is used in detecting defects in metal blocks. Make a set-up as shown in the figure,
with ultrasound being passed through one end and detectors placed on the other end of a
metal block. Since the defective part of the metal block does not allow ultrasound to pass
through it, it will not be detected by the detector. In this way, defects in metal blocks can be
detected with the help of ultrasound.

22. Explain how the human ear works.

Solution:
Various sounds produced by particles in our surroundings are collected by pinna that transfers
these sounds to the eardrum through the ear canal. The eardrum begins to vibrate back and
forth briskly as soon as the sound waves fall on it. The vibrating eardrum initiates the small
bone hammer to vibrate. These vibrations are passed from the hammer to the third bone
stirrup via the second bone anvil. The stirrup strikes the membrane of the oval window to pass
its vibration to the cochlea. The liquid in the cochlea produces electrical impulses in the nerve
cells. These electrical impulses are carried to the brain by the auditory nerve. They are
interpreted by the brain as sound, and hence, we get a sensation of hearing.