Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 15: SOUND

ANSWERS

NAME:_________________________________( ) CLASS: ___________ DATE: __________

Exercise 15A: Transmission of Sound

1. Sound waves are1_______________

longitudinal vibration of
waves propagated by the ___________
particles.

2. compressions and
When sound travels through a medium, a series of ________________

rarefactions
________________ move away from the source.

3. Describe what is meant by the term ‘compression’ and ‘rarefaction’ in a sound

wave.
A compression is a region of high pressure (or a region where all the particles are
_________________________________________________________________
being pushed together), whereas a rarefaction is a region of low pressure (or a
_________________________________________________________________
region where all the particles are being pulled apart).
_________________________________________________________________

4. A wave travels along a stretched spring. The figure below shows the appearance
of the spring at one instant.
wavelength

C R

(a) On the figure, label one compression, one rarefaction and one wavelength.

(b) The figure above is drawn full scale. Measure the wavelength of the wave
travelling along the spring.
3.0 cm
Wavelength = _____________

5. Complete the following table.

speed of sound / ms-1 medium
(a) 330 air
(b) 1500 water
(c) 5000 steel

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6. Give an example of a situation in which sound waves could not travel.

Explosion in outer space.

_________________________________________________________________

7. Sketch a graph of pressure against time to show how the air pressure at a given
point in a room varies as sound wave of frequency 200 Hz passes through that
point. Mark with a letter C a time at which there is a compression at the point, and
a letter R a time at which there is a rarefaction at the point.

Pressure

C C

0.010
0.005 time/s

R R

8. A loudspeaker and a microphone are set up facing each other several metres
apart. Explain how the vibration of the cone of the loudspeaker produces sound
waves in the air and how these waves are transmitted through the air to the
microphone. Is sound wave a longitudinal or transverse wave? Explain.

The cone pushes the air particles outward and the air particles are pushed together
_________________________________________________________________

to form compression.
_________________________________________________________________

The cone pulls the air particles inward and the air particles are spread out to form
_________________________________________________________________

rarefaction.
_________________________________________________________________

As the cone vibrates, a series of compressions and rarefactions moves away.

_________________________________________________________________

This cause the air layer near the microphone to vibrate and the vibration is
_________________________________________________________________

transmitted to the microphone where the sound is received.

_________________________________________________________________

It is a longitudinal wave because particles travel in the direction parallel to the

_________________________________________________________________

direction of sound produces sound wave

_________________________________________________________________

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9. When a violin string, or a tuning fork, or a loud speaker cone produces sound,
they can be said to be in a state of ____________.

A vibration
B compression
C rarefaction
D tension
( A )

10. Which of the following correctly gives the properties of sound waves?

Nature Can travel in

A Longitudinal Vacuum
B Longitudinal Solid
C Transverse Air
D Transverse Water
( B )

11. Astronauts in space need to communicate with each other by radio links because

A sound waves become distorted in space.

B some frequencies of sound are absorbed by their spacesuits.
C sound waves travel very slowly in space.
D sound waves cannot travel through space.
( D )

12. The table below shows how the speed of sound varies with substances of
different densities.

Substance Density/ kg m-3

W 11 743
X 7421
Y 1.33
Z 1231

Which of the following shows the correct arrangement of substance in which

sound travels with speeds in decreasing order of magnitude?

A Y, Z, X, W
B W, X, Y, Z
C Z, W, X, Y
D W, X, Z, Y
( D )

14. Which of the following correctly gives the properties of sound waves?

nature can travel in speed in air

A transverse vacuum 340 m/s
B transverse air 340 m/s
C longitudinal air 340 m/s
D longitudinal vacuum 3 x 108 m/s
( C )

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15. A person standing at A at the end of a long steel tube of length d hears two
sounds due to an explosion at B at the other of the steel tube. The time interval
between the two sounds is 4.25 s. If the speed of sound in air is 330 m/s and in
aluminum is 5100 m/s, what is d?

Aluminum
A B

d
A 750 m
B 1500 m
C 10 km
D 20 km
( B )

16. What of the following correctly gives the speed of sound in air, water and copper
(in m/s)?

Air Water Copper

A 300 1500 3300
B 300 3300 1500
C 3300 1500 300
D 3300 300 1500
( A )

17. Which line in the table correctly gives the speed of sound (in m/s) in air, water and
steel?

air water steel

A 340 1500 5000
B 340 5000 1500
C 1500 340 5000
D 5000 1500 340
( A )

18. A pure sound of frequency 100 Hz propagates in air and results in a series of
compressions and rarefactions. The shaded areas C represent the
compressions. If the distance between the first and fourth shaded areas is 9 m,
what is the speed of the sound?

C C C C

9m

A 100 m/s B 300 m/s C 400 m/s D 900 m/s

( B )

Chapter 15: Sound

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 15: SOUND

ANSWERS

NAME:_____________________( ) CLASS: _________ DATE: __________

Exercise 15B: Reflection of Sound

1. A sound wave of wavelength 1.0 m and frequency 300 Hz travels in air.

(a) Calculate the speed of sound in air.

speed, v = f λ = 300 Hz x 1.0 m = 300 m/s

(b) What difference would be heard if the frequency of the wave is increased?

____________________________________________________________
The pitch will increase.

2. (a) If the speed of sound of sound in air is 330 ms-1, what is the wavelength of
a sound wave of frequency of 16.5 kHz?
v 330 m / s
λ= = = 0.02 m
f 16500 Hz

(b) Can the sound mentioned in (a) be heard by human beings? Give a
reason for your answer.

Yes. This is because the frequency is within the range of audible frequency.
____________________________________________________________

3. A physics student hears thunder 6 seconds after seeing lightning. He estimates

that the lightning was 2 km away. Use this information to calculate the speed of
sound in air. What assumption was made about the speed of light in air?

dis tan ce 2000 m

v= = = 333 m / s
time 6s

Assumption: ______________________________________________________
Light travel so fast that when student sees the lightning, the distance

travelled by the thunder is negligible.

______________________________________________________

4. How is an echo produced?

_________________________________________________________________
An echo is produced when sound waves are reflected from a surface that is hard, large

_________________________________________________________________
and far away.

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5. A ship’s echo sounder transmits a pulse of sound which is reflected back to the
ship by the sea bed directly below the transmitter. The time between the
transmission and reception of the pulse by the ship is 0.1 s.

(a) What is the depth of the sea bed assuming that the speed of sound in sea
water is 1500 m/s?
Depth, d = speed x time
0.1s
= 1500 m/s x = 75 m
2

(b) Suggest a reason why sound waves cannot move from the Earth to the
Moon.

Sound cannot travel through the vacuum between Earth and Moon.
____________________________________________________________

6. A girl, standing 150 m in front of a tall building, fires a shot with a starting pistol. A
boy, standing 350 m directly behind her, hears two bangs 1 s apart. From this
information, what is the speed of sound in air?

It takes 1 s to travel 650 – 350 = 300 m

Speed of sound = 300 m/s

7. A man fires a gun in front of a wall and receives the echo 6 s later. He moved
back a distance of 300 m and fires the gun again. This time round, the echo took
8 s to reach him.

Calculate

(a) the speed of the sound in air

300
speed of sound = =300m/s
1

(b) the distance between the wall and the man standing at Y. Calculate also
the distance of X from the wall.

dist bet wall and Y = 300m/s x 4s =1200m

dist bet wall and X = 300m/s x 3s =900m

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8. Two vertical walls A and B, as shown below, are 65 m apart. A man standing at
P, 27 m from A, clap his hands once.
(Take the speed of sound in air to be 330 m/s)

A 27 m P
B

65 m
(a) What is the time interval between the first and the second echo that he hears?

Time interval between first and second echo = [(38 x 2)-(27 x 2)] ÷330
= 0.067s

(b) What is the time-interval between the second and the third second echo?

Time interval between first and second echo = (27 x 2) ÷330

= 0.164s

9. While hiking through a canyon, Bob lets out a scream. An echo (reflection of the
scream off a nearby canyon wall) is heard 1.6 seconds after the scream. The
speed of the sound wave in air is 345 m/s. Calculate the distance from Bob to the
nearby canyon wall.

t = 1.6 s, v = 345 m/s

Let the distance from Noah to the wall be d
2d = v x t = 345 x 1.6 = 552
d = 276 m

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10. Robot A on planet ZORK stands 36 m in front of a rock wall. It claps once, as
shown in the figure below.

36 m
(a) What is the time interval between the clap and the first echo that Robot A
‘hears’? (Assume that the speed of the sound on planet ZORK is 73 m/s)

Time interval between clap and first echo = (36 x 2) / 73

= 0.986 s

(b) Robot B seated on the top of the rock wall ‘hears’ the clap 1.20s after it is
produced. What is the height of the rock wall?

Distance between A to B = 73 x 1.20 = 87.6 m

Height of rock wall = 87.6 2 − 36 2 =79.9 m

11. An automatic focus camera is able to focus on objects by use of an ultrasonic

sound wave. The camera sends out sound waves which reflect off distant objects
and return to the camera. A sensor detects the time it takes for the waves to
return and then determines the distance an object is from the camera. If a sound
wave (speed = 340 m/s) returns to the camera 0.150 seconds after leaving the
camera, how far away is the object?

v = 340 m/s
t = 0.150
let d be the distance of object from camera

2d = v x t = 340 x 0.150 = 51 m
d = 25.5 m

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12. A loudspeaker emits very short pulses of sound at a rate of 2 per second. Saul
holds the loudspeaker very close to and facing a cliff and then moves it away from
the cliff until he can hear no interval between the pulses from the loudspeaker and
the refection of the pulses from the cliff-face.

(a) How far away from the cliff-face has Saul moved the loud-speaker? (Take
the speed of sound in air as 340 m/s)

time taken for sound to travel to and fro, t = ½ = 0.5s

v = 340 m/s
2d = v x t = 340 x 0.5 = 170
d = 85 m

(b) The frequency of the note emitted by the loudspeaker is 850 Hz. Calculate
the wavelength of the note.

f = 850 Hz
v = f xλ
λ = 340/ 850 = 0.4 m

(c) State the distance between a rarefaction and a compression produced by

the note.

distance = λ /2 = 0.2 m

13. Describe, with the aid of a diagram, how you could determine the speed of sound
in air as accurately as possible using direct method. In your account, you should
(a) describe how the experiment is performed
(b) show how the readings are used to calculate the speed of sound,

A d = 600 m B

Two _________________________________________________________________
persons, A and B, stand at a distance d of 600 m apart in an open field.

A holds a pistol and B holds a stopwatch. A fires the pistol and B starts the stopwatch when he
_________________________________________________________________

see a_________________________________________________________________
flash from the pistol. B stops the stopwatch when he hears a “bang” from the pistol.

Record this time interval as t 1 .

_________________________________________________________________

To eliminate error due to wind, A and B swop the apparatus and return to their previous position.
_________________________________________________________________

Repeat the experiment to determine another time interval, t 2 .

_________________________________________________________________
t1 + t 2
Average time taken, t =
_________________________________________________________________
ave
2
d
The speed of sound, v can thus be calculated v =Distance / Time =
_________________________________________________________________
t ave

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14. A sonic ‘tape measure’ is used to measure the length of a room. It measures a
time interval of 50 ms between transmitting a sound pulse and receiving the echo.
The speed of sound in air is 340 m/s.

What is the length of the room?

A 1.7 m
B 8.5 m
C 17.0 m
D 85.0 m
( B )

15. Two persons (A and B) stand 350 m in front of a wall. The separation between A
and B is 170 m. Person A fires a gun at a certain moment. Both persons heard
the firing twice. Wall

350 m
170 m
A B
Given the speed of sound in air to be 330 m/s, what is the time interval between
the two firing sounds received by B?

A 0.58 s
B 1.18 s
C 1.67 s
D 2.12 s
( C )

16. Eyre Koh stands between two walls as shown in the diagram and shouts once.
Assuming that the velocity of sound in air is 340 m/s, what is the distance
between the walls if one echo is heard after 0.5 s and the other after 1 s?

Eyre Koh

A. 170 m B. 255 m
C. 340 m D. 510 m
( B )

17. A marine survey ship sends a sound wave straight to the sea bed. It receives an
echo 1.5 s later. The speed of sound in sea water is 1500 m/s. How deep is the
sea at this position?

A 500 m B 1000 m C 1125 m D 2250 m

( C )

Chapter 15: Sound

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 15: SOUND

ANSWERS

NAME:_____________________( ) CLASS: _________ DATE: __________

Exercise 15C: Audible frequency and Ultrasound

1. The range of audible frequencies that can be detected by the human ear is
between 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz
________________________.

2. One use of ultrasound is in prenatal scanning. Give one other use of ultrasound.

Determine depth of sea

_________________________________________________________________

3. Ultrasound used in medicine has a frequency which is about 100 times higher
than the maximum frequency that can be heard by humans. Estimate the
frequency that might be used for ultrasound in medicine, and calculate its
wavelength in the human body. The speed of ultrasound in the human body is
1500 m/s.

Frequency of untrasound = 100 x 20,000Hz =2,000,000Hz

λ = v/f = 1500/2000000
= 0.00075 m
= 750 μm

4. A dolphin emits an ultrasonic wave with a frequency of 150,000 Hz. The speed of
the ultrasonic wave in water is 1500 m/s. What is the wavelength of the wave?

A 0.0001 m B 0.01 m C 0.1 m D 10 m

( B )

5. Which of the following ranges of sound frequencies would a healthy human adult
be most likely to hear?

A 0.2 Hz Æ 200 Hz
B 2 Hz Æ 2 000 Hz
C 20 Hz Æ 20 000 Hz
D 200 Hz Æ 200 000 Hz
( C )

Chapter 15: Sound

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 15: SOUND

ANSWERS

NAME:_____________________( ) CLASS: _________ DATE: __________

Exercise 15D: Loudness, Pitch and Quality

1. What is the property of sound that distinguishes one note from another?

Pitch
_________________________________________________________________

2. A oscilloscope can display sound waves. With the aid of labelled diagrams on the
oscilloscope displays below, explain the difference between the waveforms seen
on the screen for

(a) two sounds of different loudness but same frequency.

Explanation:

Sounds of different loudness have different amplitude.

(b) two sounds of different frequencies but same loudness.

Explanation:

Sounds of different frequencies have different pitch.

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3. The graphs below show the variation of air pressure with time of a sound wave.

(a) On the same diagram, sketch a graph to show another sound wave of
half the loudness and twice the pitch.

Air
Pressure

Time/s

(b) On the same diagram, sketch a graph to show another sound wave of the
same loudness and pitch but of different quality.

Air
Pressure

Time/s

4. The sound wave from a flute had a larger amplitude than that from a violin. The
sound wave from the violin had a lower frequency than that from the flute. Which
instrument produced the softer sound and which the higher pitch?

Softer sound Higher pitch

A Flute Flute
B Flute Violin
C Violin Flute
D Violin Violin
( C )

5. Two notes are played on a guitar. The second note has a greater amplitude and a
higher frequency. The second note has been played

A harder on a thicker string

B harder on a shorter string
C more lightly on a looser string
D more lightly on a shorter string
( B )

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6. The diagrams show the oscilloscope traces produced by different sounds. Which
diagram corresponds to the loudest sound of lowest pitch?

( A )

7. The sound wave from a violin had a larger amplitude than that from a flute. The
sound wave from the flute had a higher frequency than that from the violin.
Which instrument produced the louder sound and which the higher pitch?

louder sound higher pitch

A violin flute
B violin violin
C flute violin
D flute flute
( A )

8. What would a drummer do to make the sound of a drum give a note of lower
pitch?

A tighten the drum skin

B loosen the drum skin
C hit the drum skin with a larger force
D hit the drum skin with a smaller force
( B )

Chapter 15: Sound

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